Title: From Filial Piety to Female Authority: Empress Dowager Chongqing and Qing Court Arts
Supervised by Dr Stephen Whiteman and advised by Dr Sujatha Meegama
Funded by The Courtauld Scholarship
My project seeks to expand our understanding of female agency in premodern China by examining how Empress Dowager Chongqing’s (1692-1777) involvement in Qing court arts served to articulate her authority. By studying documentary paintings of her decennial birthdays, birthday gifts, Buddhist objects, and Buddhist temples, it delves into spaces of female activity in the court and beyond, shedding light on Chongqing’s personal experience as the most powerful woman in the Qing empire. Supplemented by court archives and imperial writings, it explores the interconnectedness of objects, spaces, and rituals in the empress dowager’s life to uncover her agency as both a cultural and political actor. Adopting a spatial approach, my thesis challenges the gendered boundaries of the inner quarters while highlighting the arenas of her authority across the Qing’s vast territory. This project reveals how Chongqing wielded authority as a woman through her particular roles in art, ritual, and religion.
Education
- 2023-present: PhD in History of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art
- 2020-2021: MA in History of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art
- 2016-2020: BA in History of Art, New York University
