Report: Collections of Revolutionary Chinese Porcelain Ceramics in UK Museums (Research Access Grant [Academic] recipient)

Reports

13 June, 2026 -

Amy Jane Barnes, a Staff Tutor and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Art History at The Open University reports on her research into the collection, display and interpretation of post-1949 Chinese ceramics in UK museum collections, as recipient of the Research Access Grant (Academic)

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I would like to thank the Design History Society for a grant from the Research Access Fund (Academic), which enabled me to travel to museums and libraries in support of my current research into the collection, display and interpretation of post-1949 Chinese ceramics in UK museum collections. This work builds on my prior doctoral and post-doctoral research into the material and visual culture of the Cultural Revolution in British museums and collections.

The overarching aim of my current project is to develop awareness of and knowledge about Chinese ceramics produced during the Mao era, with a particular focus on the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), not least, because to date, this period of ceramic manufacture has been largely overlooked by English-language scholarship. But it also aims to identify and scope out holdings of this material in UK collections. 

At the start of the project, my intention was to focus on three UK museum collections with substantial holdings of relevant material: the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A); the British Museum; and National Museums Scotland. The Research Access Grant would cover the costs of research visits to these key museums to view collections and associated archival materials. 

My aims were to establish: 

1. how these collections were made, i.e., from where objects were sourced and the rationale for their collection;
2. how they have been interpreted within the context of wider holdings of Chinese material, including dynastic-era ceramics and material culture and;
3. how and when (and if) they have been displayed.

Unfortunately, a series of issues and events outside my control, both personal and institutional, have severely impacted on the planned project. Ongoing health issues have restricted my ability to travel, which resulted in me having to abandon National Museums Scotland as a case study for this project. Sometime later, much publicised incidents affected both the British Museum (the alleged theft of objects, which led to restrictions being placed on external visitors to storage areas) and the British Library (heavily impacted by the long-term effects of a cyber-attack), not to mention the impacts of train and tube strikes.  I think it’s important to highlight these issues openly to demonstrate that the course of research is rarely smooth! I would like to thank Jenna Allsop, DHS Administrator, in particular, for her patience and understanding, and for being willing to extend the funding deadline more than once. 

But one of the biggest impacts on the project has been a lack of institutional resource meaning that curatorial staff have only had limited time to respond to enquiries. This is a consequence of funding cuts to the wider cultural sector, potentially creating barriers to access that both researchers and the museums sector will have to continue to reckon with if the status quo persists. 

Nevertheless, I have, albeit over a longer period of time than initially envisioned, used the funding to undertake several research visits to both the British Museum and the V&A and to spend time in the V&A archives consulting donation and accession documentation. In addition. I have visited the National Art Library and the British Library on several occasions, as well as the SOAS Library, to access existing scholarship. I have scoped out the extent of collections, researched their formation and analysed their interpretation and display. 

During the course of the funding period, I have also worked on a journal paper (in review), which examines a fine quality porcelain vase, now in the V&A collection, which was made at the former imperial kilns site in Jingdezhen in 1968. Much of the research undertaken at the V&A during the course of this project has fed into this piece of writing and, in particular, the grant enabled me to travel to the National Art Library at the V&A to consult correspondence files and accession records for the vase alongside other relevant objects in the collection. 

My future plans include the writing of further publications including a survey paper summarising the key findings of the project, for instance, the location, scope and history of the collections, and establishing emerging themes. In Phase 2 of the project, I will seek to identify regional, independent and university collections with relevant collections, thus developing the scope of the project, with the ultimate aim of producing a comprehensive ‘catalogue’ of revolutionary Chinese ceramics in UK museums. 

@amyjanebarnes.bsky.social