Major exhibition showcases Oxford research into Ming Dynasty

A robe found in the tomb of Zhu Tan, reflecting the power of this regional prince who was one of the 26 songs of the Ming Dynasty's founder A major exhibition based on research by an Oxford University art historian and British Museum curator opens at the British Museum next month. The BP exhibition, Ming: 50 Years that Changed China tells the story of China under the Ming Dynasty in 1400-1450. The exhibition was co-curated by Professor Craig Clunas of Oxford University's Department of the History of Art and Jessica Harrison-Hall of the British Museum, and is part of a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The exhibition uses paintings and objects from the period to show the power and status of regional aristocrats and princes in the Ming Dynasty. This is a recent argument in the study of the Ming Dynasty which was put forward by Professor Clunas in his book Screen of Kings (Reaktion Books, 2013). 'In the 1970s the Ming Dynasty was seen as a textbook example of oriental despotism - a very centralised structure with an all-powerful emperor and no real role for the regional aristocracy,' Professor Clunas explained. 'My research suggests that these regional princes, branches of the imperial family across the empire, do need to be taken seriously, and that the multiple regional courts played a larger role in the Ming Dynasty than we used to think.