Photographs of Margaret Medley on Chinese art

Research photographs accumulated by Margaret Medley relating to Chinese art. Comprises photographic prints of Chinese ceramics, hardstone carving, landscape paintings, book illustrations, ritual bronzes, and East Asian Buddhist sculpture. The collection also contains a set of commercial photographic postcards of recently excavated Chinese artworks issued by Foreign Languages Press, Beijing (1972).

Rachel Margaret Medley (known as Margaret) was born in Kensington, London on the 6th March 1918. She studied Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London in 1950. Medley subsequently worked as a librarian at the Chinese art department at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London and later as a librarian at SOAS Library. In 1959, Medley was appointed as the second Curator at the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, University of London housed at SOAS, a post she remained in until her retirement. Medley was a leading authority on the history of Chinese ceramics, with a particular interest in ceramic technology and manufacture. She was the author of a number of works, including 'The Chinese Potter: A Practical History of Chinese Ceramics (1976). In 1977, Medley also began teaching courses on the history of Chinese ceramics at SOAS utilising the collections at the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art. She served as President of the Oriental Ceramic Society between 1990 and 1992. Margaret Medley died on the 12 June 2000.

Open

The photographs of Margaret Medley were transfered to SOAS Library in 2008, following the closure of The Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art building at 53 Gordon Square.

Catalogued

Various

The photographs of Margaret Medley were previously held at The Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art premises at 53 Gordon Square, London.