Jessica Harrison-Hall
Curator
China and Vietnam
Department: Asia
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7323 9948
Email: jharrison-hall @ thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
Jessica Harrison-Hall curates the Chinese ceramics collections,
from 4000 BCE to the present. She is also responsible for Chinese
textiles, Vietnamese art and antiquities. Her role is to research,
spread understanding of and develop this material through
acquisitions, publications, exhibitions, lectures and study
access.
She has special interests in the material culture of later
Chinese history, particularly the Yuan (1280-1368), Ming
(1368-1644) and Qing dynasties (1644-1911). Her current research
focuses on the porcelain industry in Qing China. Following her
Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics, she has begun a
five-year project to research Chinese Qing Dynasty pottery and
porcelain for a comprehensive catalogue of the Museum's largely
unpublished holdings.
Current British Museum projects
Qing Ceramics - A Catalogue of the Qing 1644-1911
and Republican Period Pottery and Porcelain in the British
Museum
Writing publication to make accessible, for the first time
through a single publication, 1,000 of the Museum’s Qing ceramics -
for publication 2009/10.
China touring exhibition March 2008-March 2010; devising a six
to eight venue touring exhibition. The exhibition is the
second in a series of British Museum touring exhibitions linked to
our on-line learning resources. This exhibition is aimed at Key
stages 2 and 3 of the National Curriculum (9 to 14 year olds),
their families and teachers. It will link with two British Museum
websites www.ancientchina.co.uk and
www.earlyimperialchina.co.uk
Developing a plan for a new gallery devoted to
the Percival David Collection of Chinese Ceramics for 2008
Previous British Museum projects
Special exhibitions
Most recently Vietnam: Behind the Lines (13
June-1 December 2002), an exhibition of 132 art works, which were
acquired between 1998 and 2001, portraying life for the North
Vietnamese during the American-Vietnam War 1965-75.
Touring exhibitions
With Regina Krahl, East Meets West – an exhibition of 250
Chinese export porcelains, to the National Museum of History,
Taipei, the British Museum and the Royal Museum of Art and History,
Brussels.
On-site displays
in collaboration with the Oriental Ceramic Society a series of
bi-annual study displays with specially tailored seminars,:
Sixteenth Century Ceramics (October-November 1994);
Far and Near Eastern Green Wares (3 May-13 July 1997);
Seventeenth Century Ceramics - Chinese Blue and White and its
Influences (May 1998-October 1999); Over decorated
Porcelain (1 October 2001-20 May 2002).
Strategic Planning
(2000-2001) completed an 18 month secondment to the Museum’s
Central Planning Unit, working closely with senior management to
devise a development plan for the British Museum.
Research management
Published an original and accessible catalogue of Chinese Ming
dynasty (1368-1644 AD) ceramics, the culmination of five years
research. The manuscript includes 1000 illustrated items, many
unpublished with translations of all inscriptions.
On special leave 2003-4 and 2005-6.
External fellowships/ honorary positions/ membership of professional bodies
Permanent Council Member of the Oriental
Ceramics Society.
Publications
J. Harrison-Hall, Vietnam: Behind the Lines Images from the
War 1965-75 (British Museum Publications, London, 2002)
J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics - A Catalogue of the late Yuan
and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum (British Museum
Publications, London, 2001)
J. Harrison-Hall, Ancient Chinese Trade
Ceramics from the British Museum, London, with R. Krahl,
(National History Museum, Taipei, 1994)
J. Harrison-Hall, ' "China" in 'Trade and
Learning: The European "discovery" of the East' in
Enlightenment: Discovering the World in the Eighteenth
Century, K. Sloane (ed.) (British Museum Publications, London,
2003) pp. 263-6