Kexin Ma holds a PhD in History of Art and Archaeology from SOAS University of London and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Her research and teaching engage with the visual and material cultures in early modern China, with a particular focus on intermedial dialogues between art forms and the transcultural exchanges of technical knowledge and design concepts. Kexin has presented research on Ming and Qing ceramics and paintings through journal articles and conference papers, drawing attention to the itinerised biographies of objects and images.
Before joining the Courtauld, Kexin served as the visiting assistant teaching professor of Art History at the College of William and Mary (2024/25) and co-convened the Arts of China module in the SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art programme (2023/24). Alongside her academic pursuits, Kexin also has experience working as freelance translator, assistant editor, and curatorial assistant in a number of institutions, including Orientations magazine Ltd., the OCAT institute, the National Gallery of Prague, the National Art Museum of China, and the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art.
Teaching
MA Special Option: Beijing and Beyond: Art and Empire in Early Modern China, c. 1600-1900
BA1: Chinese Art in London Collections
BA3: Time and Temporality in Chinese Art
Publications
‘From the Qing Court to the Museum Vitrine: On the Acquisition and Display of the Guwan tu Handscroll in the Victoria and Albert Museum’. Asian Studies 13, no. 1 (2025): 263–87. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2025.13.1.
‘In Pursuit of Temporal Illusion: The Reproduction and Imitation of Antiquities under the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1723–35)’. Ming Qing yanjiu 28 (2024): 53–87. https://doi.org/10.1163/24684791-12340078.
‘Blue Willow and Pastoral Idyll: Cross-translation and Redefinition of Porcelain Decorative Designs in Eighteenth-century China and Europe’. Meishu daguan (Art Panorama), no. 7 (2022): 113–18.
‘“Cabinet of Curiosities” across Time and Space: Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Its Innovative and Interactive Curatorial Approaches’. National Museum of Art Journal, no. 4 (2019): 109–17.