China's China: Study Ancient China through the Evolution of Its Ceramics

Advance registration for this program is now closed. We encourage you to do a drop-in on the day of the program.

Examine the evolution of ancient China’s culture, society and technology through the evolution of China’s ceramics. Our speaker will transport us to ancient China, from the Neolithic period (7000 BCE) to Qing dynasty (early 20th century), with his collection of ceramic shards. Shards from each period will be studied and their stories will be revealed. Join us for this rare hands-on discussion and an unusual angle in connecting the development of ceramics with the rise and fall of dynasties in ancient China.

Dr. Bruce Bartholomew received a BA in Zoology from UCLA and a PhD in Biology from Stanford University. He worked as the Curator of the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden for 10 years and as the Collections Manager of the herbarium at the California Academy of Sciences for 25 years. Much of his research centered on the plants of China, and he has been on numerous collecting expeditions throughout China. While working in Beijing in the late 1990s, he started collecting ceramic shards, which were found at numerous construction sites. Many of these dated to the Liao, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Subsequently, he would check out piles of dirt in any city he visited in China. His collection eventually grew to over 2,000 shards dating from the Neolithic through the Qing dynasty.

This hands-on discussion will go over Dr. Bartholomew’s collection. All of his collection is documented as to when and where he collected each piece and forms an important study collection of Chinese ceramics.