Selected by Book Authority as one of 16 Best New Art History Books To Read In 2021

“Pang Yuanji was arguably the foremost collector of Chinese painting in the early 20th century, and the works from his Xu Zhai Collection that are now in American and Chinese museums are treasured masterpieces. Katharine Burnett tells the story of Pang’s remarkable life and re-creates the world of his family, society, and businesses in Hangzhou and Shanghai. Using Pang’s detailed record of his collection, she explains Pang’s collecting practices, analyzes his taste and connoisseurship standards, and traces many works to their present home. An engaging and well-researched volume on this pivotal collector, Shaping Chinese Art History: Pang Yuanji and His Collection makes a substantial contribution to the burgeoning field of studies of modern museum collections of Chinese art.” —Amy McNair, University of Kansas

"This comprehensive and engaging study for the first time brings into focus the full range of activities of the great collector Pang Yuanji, giving us a picture of a crucial figure in the field of Chinese art history. By situating him within a number of relevant frameworks as collector, businessman, and philanthropist, this book helps us better understand the key role which the art of the past played in the making of a modern China." —Craig Clunas, FBA, Professor Emeritus of the History of Art, Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, University of Oxford

“Future historiographers might thus seek to build on Katharine Burnett’s skillful analysis of Pang Yuanji’s collection to trace the precise ways in which his sales of artworks and his interactions with scholars affected the American study of Chinese art history. They might seek, too, to examine Pang as but one figure in a network of collectors, dealers, and scholars who shaped the taste of people like Charles Lang Freer. Historians of Chinese art and intellectual historians concerned with the historiography of Chinese art history will find much to consider in Burnett’s book, particularly its introduction and first two chapters. Her work sheds important light on the foundations of this field that so many scholars are now seeking to expand and redefine.” —History of Humanities

Katharine P. Burnett is Professor of Art History at the University of California, Davis. She holds a PhD and an MA from the University of Michigan and a BA from Wellesley College. Dr. Burnett’s previous publications include Dimensions of Originality: Essays on Seventeenth-Century Chinese Art Theory and Criticism. She has published in several journals including Art History, Meishu shi yu guannian shi/History of Art and History of Ideas, Ming Studies, Modern Chinese Studies, and Word & Image. Dr. Burnett is Founding Director of the Global Tea Initiative for the Study of Tea Culture and Science at the University of California, Davis.

Illustrations and Tables

Preface

Notes to the Reader

Introduction

Chapter 1 Pang Yuanji’s Collection

Chapter 2 The Pang Family

Chapter 3 Pang Yuanji, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

Chapter 4 Pang Yuanji and the Culture of Nanxun

Chapter 5 The Fate of the Collection

Bibliography

Index