Conférences OCS London

Collecting Ming Ware: Ming Porcelain in Austrian Collections

Dr. Johannes Wieninger from the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna
Monday 4th November, 5:30 pm for 6:00 p.m
The Bonhams/OCS Asia Week lecture
at Bonhams (101 New Bond Street, London W1S 1SR)

This lecture will deal with the history of collecting Ming porcelain during the Habsburg era, from the 16 th to the early 19th century. Inventory books from Ambras Castle near Innsbruck (Tyrol), end of 16th century, provide us with detailed information on the presence of contemporary Chinese porcelain and the way it was used. Some of these porcelains found their way to the imperial palaces in Vienna and later on into public museums. In the case of early porcelain cabinets of the late 17thcentury, some blue-and-white porcelain pieces from the end of the Ming period were reused. The large “Orientalisch-keramische Ausstellung“ (Oriental ceramic exhibition) with more than 2000 exhibits, organized by the Oriental Museum in 1884, showed the rich heritage of Asian ceramics in Austrian aristocratic collections.