[photo credit: The Huntington]
That lost work is getting a second life at The Huntington, and on January 29, a New York University art historian will explain why.
Meredith Martin, professor of art history at New York University, will present “Porcelain in Motion: From Decoration to Dance.” The lecture examines princely porcelain rooms and connects them to The Huntington’s staging of “Ballet des Porcelaines,” an 18th-century French ballet that vanished from history until Martin and choreographer Phil Chan revived it at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2021.
Known to Europeans as “white gold,” porcelain was both a magical material and highly sought-after commodity in the early modern world. Royal and elite collectors in Portugal, the Netherlands, Safavid Iran, and elsewhere amassed huge quantities they showcased in dazzling interiors known as porcelain rooms, where porcelain was set off by mirrors and gold mounts and made part of an intricate ritual of courtly performance.
The ballet, written in 1739 by comte de Caylus, tells of a sorcerer who rules a mythical land called the blue island and turns inhabitants into porcelain. Martin and Chan reimagined the production with a team consisting primarily of artists of Asian descent, exploring the meaning and relevance of historical artworks for the present.
The lecture accompanies the yearlong exhibition “the eight directions of the wind: Edmund de Waal at The Huntington,” featuring three site-specific installations by acclaimed master potter Edmund de Waal.
Porcelain in Motion: From Decoration to Dance will run on Thursday, Jan. 29 at 6-7 p.m. Rothenberg Hall, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. For more information, call (626) 405-2100 or visit https://www.huntington.org/event/porcelain-motion-decoration-dance.
