Ja Won Lee

"Culture on Display" is the first book-length comprehensive research on the inception of Korean art featuring Chinese antiquities, with a focus on the paramount role of collectors of Chinese art that sparked the artistic achievements. It examines an understudied yet important trend in collecting Chinese antiquities and its impact on visual and material culture in Korea between 1700 and 1910, during which time the passion for collecting Chinese antiquities played a pivotal role in establishing the new cultural phenomena. Building on recent scholarship on cultural translation, the issue of agency, and antiquarianism across the globe, it scrutinizes the paradigms of collecting practice and artistic authorship to offer new interpretive avenues for Korean arts associated with Chinese antiquities.