Global Lives of Objects

In celebration of the centenary in 2023 of the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC, this new volume explores a range of artistic, historical, and technical exchanges that shaped the arts of Asia and late nineteenth-century America, through the juxtaposition of object based, localized micro-histories. Written by curators, scientists, conservators and other museum staff, this multifaceted work explores issues of the circulation of materials, objects and technology which have long predated the contemporary period. This approach encourages readers to appreciate well known masterpieces as well as lesser known and unpublished works from a new perspective and focus on networks of artistic, cultural and historical connections that shaped their meaning and significance.

This publication is a thought-provoking, engaging and accessible volume that will appeal to those with an interest in the arts of Asia, from Turkey to Japan and in all media, as well as those readers with an appreciation for late nineteenth-century American art.

Author biographies

Authors: Massumeh Farhad is the Ebrahimi Family Curator of Persian, Arab, and Turkish Art, Chief Curator, and the Senior Associate Director for Research, National Museum of Asian Art.

Sana Mirza is Head of the Scholarly Programs and Publications Department, National Museum of Asian Art.

Table of Contents

• Preface by Chase F. Robinson, director
• Introduction by Massumeh Farhad and Sana Mirza
• 1 Itinerant Trajectories by Ellen Chase and Soon Kai Poh
  2 Casting the Hidden Knife by Donna Strahan
  3 Following Smoke Trails by Joanna M. Gohmann
  4 Cultural Entanglements by Antonietta Catanzariti
  5 A Bittersweet Consolation by Najiba H. Choudhury
  6 A Traveler’s Well-Traveled Object by Keith Wilson and Janet Douglas
  7 Painting at the Crossroads by Jennifer Giaccai
  8 A Divine Assembly by Emma Natalya Stein
  9 On the River by Stephen Allee
  10 Praying in a Dream by Frank Feltens
  11 Afterlives of a Prince by Frank Feltens
  12 Noblesse Oblige by Simon Rettig and Janet O’Brien
  13 Jizō Under the Microscope by Andrew Hare and Jiro Ueda
  14 Made for a Mongol Queen by Simon Rettig
  15 On the High Seas by Sana Mirza
  16 Evolving Identity by Blythe McCarthy and Louise Allison Cort
  17 Frolicking Dragons from China to Japan by Jan Stuart
  18 A Sybil Comes East by Massumeh Farhad
  19 An Eye to the Future by Massumeh Farhad
  20 A Grand Gift by Jan Stuart
  21 Aesthetic Intersections by Sol Jung
  22 Imagined Journeys by Debra Diamond
  23 A Portrait’s Secret Uncovered by Jennifer Giaccai
  24 A Persian Journey Box by Simon Rettig
  25 Sumptuous Surroundings by Diana Greenwold
  26 Staging the Chinese Immigrant Experience by Kerry Roeder
  27 Finding the Global in the Local by Kerry Roeder
  28 Shining Examples by Diana Greenwold
  29 For the Love of Ceramics by Lisa Fthenakis
  30 Mapping the Journey of a Lifetime by Kit Brooks
  31 Emptiness in Excess by Frank Feltens
  32 Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Kit Brooks
  33 Sent a Letter by Carol Huh
• Contributors
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• Image Credits