The Sir Michael Butler Memorial Lecture – New sources of evidence for the classification and understanding of the Sir Michael Butler collection of 17th-century Chinese porcelain
To coincide with the publication of their book ‘Leaping the Dragon Gate. The Sir Michael Butler Collection of Seventeenth-Century Chinese Porcelain‘ Teresa Canepa and Katharine Butler will present the fruits of their research for the definitive catalogue raisonné of Sir Michael’s renowned collection.
Katharine will introduce the lecture with a brief description of her father’s approach to collecting and his unique academic contribution. She will consider some of the still unresolved questions and present her database of dated late 16th and 17th-century Chinese porcelain, which has considerably expanded the list published by her father and Stephen Little in 1990 and has informed the catalogue research.
Teresa will discuss a selection of pieces from the collection which now can be better understood through new research finds from textual, material, and/or visual sources. She will present new archaeological finds from both terrestrial and marine excavations and establish direct links with the different kilns where the porcelains were fired. Teresa will also identify where her research has digressed from Sir Michael and others dating assumptions and what new subject matter and stylistic attributions can be made.
Teresa and Katharine will both underscore the quality of 17th-century Chinese porcelain and highlight the importance of the extraordinary breadth of the Butler Collection, which was assembled by one of the most formative and respected members of the Oriental Ceramic Society.
This lecture is kindly sponsored by The Butler Collection Partnership.
Please note that this lecture is scheduled to take place at 19:00 on Monday, 8th November 2021 at The Lydia and Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre, Victoria & Albert Museum.
Booking is required. Please scroll down to reserve your ticket.
Speakers
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Teresa CanepaDr. Teresa Canepa is an independent researcher and lecturer in Chinese and Japanese export art of the 16th and 17th centuries. She completed a PhD in Art History at Leiden University, The Netherlands, and a MA in Fine and Decorative Art at Sotheby’s Institute, London. She is a member of the Council of the Oriental Ceramic Society in London and co-editor of the Society’s Newsletter. The main focus of her current research is the production of Chinese porcelain for the domestic and export markets in the 17th century, during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. She is the author of Silk, Porcelain and Lacquer: China and Japan and their trade with Western Europe and the New World, 1500-1600 (Paul Holberton Publishing, London, 2016), Jingdezhen to the World: The Lurie Collection of Chinese Export Porcelain from the Late Ming Dynasty (Ad Ilissvm, London, 2019), and co-author with Katharine Butler of the book Leaping the Dragon Gate. The Sir Michael Butler Collection of 17th-Century Chinese Porcelain (Ad Ilissvm, London, 2021). She has lectured and published widely both nationally and internationally on these subjects.
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Katharine ButlerDaughter of the collector Sir Michael Butler (1927-2013)
