Curator Talk: Crafting the Daoist Priest Robe: Form and Technique
Join Liu Yang, Mia’s chair of Asian art and curator of Chinese art, and Pengliang Lu, the Brooke Russell Astor Curator of Chinese Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for a special dual lecture celebrating “Threads of the Way: Daoist Priest Robes from China’s Qing Dynasty,” now on view at Mia.
Lu’s lecture, “Crafting the Daoist Priest Robe: Form and Technique,” will explore the design and technique of these extraordinary vestments. Dazzling, fanciful, and meticulous, Daoist priest robes are among the most cherished categories of Chinese historical textiles. In both quantity and quality, Mia and the Metropolitan Museum of Art have the most extraordinary collection of such costume outside China.
Liu’s lecture, “Mapping the Cosmos: Imagery and Meaning on Daoist Priest Robes,” will follow with insights into how these lavishly decorated robes were designed to align a Daoist priest’s body with the natural order of the universe. Focusing on exemplary garments from Mia, we’ll examine how imagery of the Heavenly Palace, astral cycles, sacred mountains, dragons, immortals, and auspicious symbols were organized on the priest’s body to align heaven, earth, and humanity. By analyzing eight characteristic design types, we’ll discuss how ritual robes functioned not merely as ceremonial attire but as mobile ritual spaces, visualizing priestly authority and transforming the officiant into a living axis between the celestial and terrestrial realms.
Liu Yang is the chair of Asian art and curator of Chinese art at Mia. He earned his PhD in art history and archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Before Mia, he was the senior curator of Chinese art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney and an adjunct professor at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales. Since 1998, Liu has organized more than a dozen traveling exhibitions from China, including “China’s First Emperor,” which set an attendance record. His exhibitions “Power and Beauty in China’s Last Dynasty” (2018) and “Eternal Offerings: Chinese Ritual Bronzes” (2023), collaborations with avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson and Oscar-winning film artistic director Tim Yip, were widely acclaimed. Liu has authored numerous books and exhibition catalogues, three of which received awards.
Pengliang Lu, Brooke Russell Astor Curator of Chinese Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, joined the museum in 2013 as a Henry A. Kissinger Curatorial Fellow. He’s curated various exhibitions on Chinese decorative arts, including “Children to Immortals: Figural Representations in Chinese Art,” “Embracing Color: Enamel in Chinese Decorative Arts, 1300–1900,” and most recently “Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900.” From 2002 to 2008, he worked at the Shanghai Museum. He’s published widely on metal works, ceramics, textiles, and literati objects. He earned his PhD at the Bard Graduate Center on Chinese bronzes and antiquarianism of the 13th and 14th centuries.