CJS Noon Lecture ~ "On the Creation of a National Collection of Japanese Ceramics in the 1870s: A.W. Franks, Ernest Satow, Ninagawa Noritane, and the British Museum"

Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere is the Research Director of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. She received her PhD from Harvard University. Her research interests include early modern to contemporary ceramics in East Asia, the history of archaeology and collecting of Japan objects in Asia and in Europe, Japanese contemporary craft expression and manga. She is currently seconded to the British Museum as a curator working on their extensive ceramic collection and completing a publication on the history of the Japanese porcelain industry.
Augustus Wollaston Franks (1826-1897), Keeper of the British Museum from 1866-1896, was responsible for creating the Department of Oriental Antiquities (now the Department of Asia) at the British Museum. He amassed among other media a large collection of Japanese ceramics. Most of his Japanese ceramic collecting took place in a short period of time from 1875-1880. This talk will chart recently discovered documents, such as letters from Ernest Satow and Ninagwa Noritane, and examine his search for what Franks believed was an ‘authentic’ representation of Japanese ceramic production from prehistory to present.