Dessa Goddard, Vice President and Director of Asian Art at Bonhams

The focus of Western contemporary media on spectacular prices for Chinese works of art and paintings often treats Mainland Chinese collectors as an “emerging new force” in the art world. While this is certainly true on the international scene, this view masks the highly complex and sophisticated 2000 year history of Chinese collecting paintings and works of art at home. This talk will explore the cultural, political, and economic forces that helped shape collecting tastes in Imperial China, and provides critical lenses through which to view the 21^st century inheritors of this great tradition.