Craig Clunas

Vanbrugh: The Drama of Architecture 300 years after his death, a major new exhibition exploring one of the UK’s greatest architects - Sir John Vanbrugh (1664–1726) – will open in the spring at Sir John Soane's Museum. Hailed as ‘The Roc...

Starting today @soanemuseum.bsky.social Vanbrugh exhibition curated by Charles Saumarez Smith. 2026 is 300th anniversary of Vanbrugh's death. Bit of a niche exhibition maybe but Vanbrugh was a character and it's a great excuse to (re)visit a fabulous museum www.soane.org/exhibitions/...

Independent bookstores in China differentiate themselves from the state-owned Xinhua Bookstore& other privately owned shops through an emphasis on the free exchange of ideas.

We're seeking reviewers to engage with this book. If interested,pls email t@asiancha.com.

cup.columbia.edu/book/cultura...

Why did Chinese scientists in 1975 embark on an expedition to discover mermaids?

My new #ChinaComx translation offers answers! It is also a great example of how the Reform Era drive toward mass science popularization was realized on small scale.

Read it here: chinacomx.github.io/translations...

Mongolian horse-tooth saddle hilt, with inlaid gold, silver, and six-sided horse-tooth burrs flattened with gold-plated brass in the form of a honeycomb. 43.5 cm x 52 cm. (c.1250s). Ulaanbaatur, Chinggis Khan Museum

Medieval Visual Culture Seminar
Silver trees and pearl crosses: Franco-Mongolian diplomacy and cultural exchange in thirteenth-century Karakorum

Emily Guerry (Christ Church)
5pm March 12
Arumugam 2.1, St Catherine’s College

www.hoa.ox.ac.uk/event/mediev...

@oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk

Lecturer in Visual and Material Cultures (R&T) at University of Glasgow Searching for an academic job? Explore this Lecturer in Visual and Material Cultures (R&T) opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.

Come and work with us at Glasgow! Full time permanent post in History of Art: lecturer in material and visual culture with specialism in dress history or textile history. Details below 👇

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQR311/l...

A drawing in gouache on paper of four bright orange, papery Chinese lantern husks. Toward the upper left corner are 3 husks, grouped together, touching, with 2 in the back and one up front. The one in front is split such that the viewer can see the orange seed inside. In the lower right corner sits a single husk.

Chinese Lantern, 1770-1815, by #CarolineFriederikeFriedrich (German, 1749-1815), who was born #otd, Mar 4. Held by Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/collectio...

#hernaturalhistory #womenartists #artherstory

YouTube video by LIST Analysis Monty Python | Court scene | Cardinal Richelieu | Dim of the Yard

4.55 "And did you persecute the Huguenots?"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPuB...

Calls for Papers Calls for Papers Here you can find the call for papers for the journal issues we are currently working on. The initial pitches should be no longer than 300 words and explain the key argument of your p...

|| NEW CALL FOR PAPERS || To mark the 50th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s death, we are planning an issue on memories and lessons from the Mao era. We invite contributions revisiting overlooked experiences, questioning established interpretations, or reflecting on what Maoist China can teach us today.

Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas and Beyond | Home Adrian Blau is Professor of Politics at King’s College London. His research interests include the history of political thought and other issues in political theory/philosophy, including corruption, democracy and rationality.

We've published a free e-book celebrating the 50th anniversary of Quentin Skinner's seminal essay 'Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas' including his own reflections on the contributions
liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

diagram showing how a film set might simulate an underwater view, with the arrangement (from left to right) of a film camera, an aquarium, a woman dressed as a mermaid, and three sheets

my article on Georges Méliès and aquariums—the first thing published from my dissertation—is now out open access at @jcmsjournal.bsky.social!!

read on to see how fairy tale grottoes, Jules Verne's science fiction, and water infrastructure are all connected!!!

quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/i...

Now available from @reaktionbooks.bsky.social
reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/sons-of...
Here I've tried to give an account in English of the Ming ruling house as a family enterprise (and not forgetting imperial aunties)

Women as agents and recipients of medical translations in early modern France In a wide-ranging study, Valerie Worth-Stylianou looks beyond women as translators and commissioners of translations to identify their roles as dedicatees and readers of translations on reproductive h...

Specialising in early modern French and translation, Professor Valerie Worth-Stylianou’s Leverhulme-funded study @ox.ac.uk looks beyond women as translators to identify their roles as dedicatees and readers of translations on reproductive health. #InternationalWomensDay

Burlington Contemporary - Reviews - Gerhard Richter Following Forty Years of Painting (2002) at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the touring Panorama (2011–12) and the unfortunately stymied Painting After All (2020–21), this exhibition at the Fondat...

The owl of Minerva "has seemingly flown." Read the @burlingtoncontemp.bsky.social review of the FLV Gerhard #Richter show here (and think about giving this fab free online journal a follow) #art #painting
contemporary.burlington.org.uk/reviews/revi...

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The Columbian Exchange The impact of the spread of animals, crops and diseases between continents after 1492

This will be a treat: The Columbian Exchange on In Our Time today. #Skystorians

Hegemony, Hunting and Human Trophies in the East Asian War of 1592–1598* Abstract. On the eve of his invasion of Korea that launched the Imjin War (1592–8), the Japanese military hegemon, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, held a spectacular h

From the current issue: "Hegemony, Hunting and Human Trophies in the East Asian War of 1592–1598"

by Rebekah Clements (Autonomous University of Barcelona)

#OpenAccess

doi.org/10.1093/past...

Collège des Ecossais à #Paris5 (#Paris) Construction 3e quart XVIIe siècle. Façade ; chapelle ; escalier intérieur : inscription p... Suite 👉 https://monumentum.fr/monument-historique/pa00088403/paris-5e-arrondissement-college-des-ecossais

Collège des Ecossais à #Paris5 (#Paris) Construction 3e quart XVIIe siècle. Façade ; chapelle ; escalier intérieur : inscription p...
Suite 👉 https://monumentum.fr/monument-historique/pa00088403/paris-5e-arrondissement-college-des-ecossais

Excavating Andersson: unlocking forgotten treasures in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (MFEA), Stockholm This project investigates archaeological material collected from north-west China in the 1920s and housed at the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm. Finds and archival materials are examined and catalogued to learn about prehistoric cultural interactions and to reconnect discoveries with the original excavation contexts and excavators.

NEW In the 1920s, a Swedish-Chinese team excavated over 50 prehistoric sites in north-west China.

Little is known about the sites and Chinese team members now, so a new project is reconnecting discoveries with their original contexts and excavators.

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology

A cosy dining room with a table set for tea, featuring cakes, pastries and teacups on a floral tablecloth.

Happy 10th birthday Art UK 🎉 #ArtUK10thBirthday

On our birthday we have reach a huge one million artworks on Art UK!

Discover more and celebrate with us 👉 https://artuk.org/

🧑‍🎨 Peggy Angus (1904–1993) © estate of Peggy Angus. All rights reserved, 2026 DACS. 📷 City of London Corporation

Diogenes, by Jean-Léon Gérôme

Diogenes, by Jean-Léon Gérôme

#DOTD: Denis Crispin Twitchett 杜希德 (1925–2006), British sinologist and historian of #MedievalChina, co-editor of The Cambridge History of China. Professor at the University of Cambridge & Princeton University, he is best known for his work on the Tang 唐 (618–907).

"At its core, this research asks what it meant for an imperial state to “control” #money. Across a millennium, monetary authority in #China was exercised through negotiation, adaptation, and coexistence, all leading to an outcome that complicates conventional narratives of centralized power."

Yan Ge | It cannot read the human heart A friend in China messaged me on WeChat. ‘What are your thoughts on the plagiarism scandal?’‘What scandal?’ I...

‘“This plagiarism scandal is exposing a structural problem in Chinese literature,” my friend said. “Literature should never be funded by the government. Public financial aid only corrupts artists.”’

Yan Ge on the Chinese plagiarism scandal exposed on RedNote.

www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...

#DOTD: Zhu Qizhen 朱祁鎮 (1427–64), Ming 明 Emperor Yingzong 英宗, who ascended the throne twice under the era names Zhengtong 正統 (1436–50) and Tianshun 天順 (1457–64) after being captured at Tumu Fortress 土木堡 in 1449 during a botched campaign against the Oirat Mongols.

How Chinese Students Transformed British Chinatowns The New Chinatowns. Words by Barclay Bram. Photographs by Chan Yang Kim.

Terrific @vittles.bsky.social series on UK Chinatowns - here, a smart article on how Chinese students in the UK have transformed them www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/the-new-ch... - for a delicious spin on UKHE, for a change

Analogue expression in a digital society: China’s open-air galleries Chinese cities exhibit a kaleidoscope of artworks across the urban landscape; Gerda Wielander explores the significance of these visuals in contemporary society

Chinese cities exhibit a kaleidoscope of artworks across the urban landscape; @gerdawielander.bsky.social @wminhumanities.bsky.social explores the significance of these visuals in contemporary society. media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/gwie...

It means everything to publish the first account of the Toshakhana with @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social

The study shows how Toshakhana bureaucracy created indifference to diplomatic gifts which then led to the erasure of provenance and anonymised objects in museum collections

southasiasky

Slade Lectures 2026
‘Permanently Temporary Cities: Refugee Camps'
Esther da Costa Meyer

5pm Wed 25 Feb
Auditorium, St John's College
@stjohnsox.bsky.social

(Free Admission)

Abstract: www.hoa.ox.ac.uk/event/slade-...

Slade Lectures 2026: www.hoa.ox.ac.uk/slade-lectures

Kafka goes to China The journey of Franz Kafka’s works from Europe to Mao-era China shaped generations of writers.

My latest, on Kafka in China (cameos by Yu Hua, Xue Yiwei, Kundera, Murakami & others, including an extended one by Orwell) engelsbergideas.com/essays/kafka... cc @parisreview.bsky.social

Cover of “Sons of Heaven: Family and Dynasty in Ming China.” The upper half is black with white and gold text; the lower half shows Emperor Xuanzong riding, accompanied by a woman. Detail of the anonymous painting “Hunting Excursion,” in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

Table of contents listing the introduction and chapters 1–10. Each chapter named for an era (Hongwu through Hongzhi) with reign dates.

Continuation of the table of contents. Chapters 11–17 (Zhengde through Chongzhen eras), followed by an epilogue titled “After the End, 1644,” and sections for references, bibliography, acknowledgements, photo acknowledgements, and index wish page numbers.

Came home to a wonderful surprise. My copy of @craigclunas.bsky.social ‘s Sons of Heaven arrived today. I wasn’t expecting it for a while yet.

The British Academy - Head of Communications and Marketing - £70,000 (London, ENG) OUR CLIENT:The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social...

Come work with me! We are recruiting for a Head of Comms and Marketing to help us communicate the work of @britishacademy.bsky.social and the power of the humanities and social sciences in making sense of our changing world
app.loxo.co/job/MzM2MzQt...