PhD Studentship: The Forensic Study of Chinese Porcelains

Cranfield University, in partnership with the Butler Museum, the Jie Rui Tang Collection and the Hoyle Collection, are offering a fully PhD studentship opportunity in the forensic study of Chinese porcelain. The studentship supports a project aims that aims to bring together expertise in art historical aspects of porcelain of particular periods and types and new data derived during the project from cutting-edge forensic analysis. The project will require the student to be familiar with both of these areas of expertise and to combine them successfully to produce a characterisation of the wares under consideration.

Chinese Porcelain is exceptionally interesting and valuable and has been studied for centuries. It has influenced art and design the world over and is widely collected and admired. However, Chinese porcelain is also heavily copied. This started very early on, when Chinese ceramic artists copied earlier wares in homage to the great skills of their forerunners and has continued to the present day. Over the last thirty years in particular, very large numbers of copies have been openly produced in China and have been sold on the art market. While some copies are easily identified, others are less obvious, and this has become a serious issue for those who study and/or collect this material. This project will build on previous work at Cranfield and elsewhere and combine expert art historical knowledge with the latest forensic analytical techniques to try to compositionally characterise Chinese porcelain of some important periods. The aim is to reliably differentiate period pieces from other wares that are geographically or temporally distinct.

The project student will have a unique opportunity to explore the interface between analysis and art historical knowledge in key areas of Chinese porcelain. This will expose the student to the detail of both and will require a student that is as comfortable with the idea of conversing about compositional groupings as they are with aspects of the art and design or the decoration of the ceramics. The student will have unrivalled access to three world class collections and the extensive knowledge and experience of the collectors and their staff. They will be expected to be able to consider the objects as important, historical pieces, but they will also experience the world of collecting and auctions. Exposure to major museums and their curators, alongside the advisory committee of experts, will give the student excellent opportunities for networking in the field to improve their overall knowledge and employability.

Applicants should have a first- or second-class UK honours degree or equivalent in a discipline such as analytical science, material science, archaeology/anthropology with a science component or related subject areas. A master’s qualification in science, archaeological science or similar would be an advantage and could provide access to this scholarship for those from other first-degree subjects.

Application deadline: 30/10/2024

Intake start date: 27/01/2025

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