Rose Kerr (art historian)


Rose Kerr is an English art historian specializing in Chinese art, especially Chinese ceramics, on which she has written a number of books. She was the Keeper of the Far Eastern Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London until 2003. In 2015, she was made an honorary citizen of Jingdezhen, China, the historic centre of Chinese porcelain production, in recognition of her academic research on Jingdezhen ceramics, and her promotion of cultural exchange between the United Kingdom and China. She was the first non-Chinese citizen to be so honoured.

Early life

Rose Kerr was born in February 1953. She graduated in Chinese studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and was one of a handful of British students to live and study in China during the last year of the Cultural Revolution in 1975-1976.

Career

Kerr was Keeper of the Far Eastern Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum until her retirement in 2003.
Her work with professor Nigel Wood, Science and Civilisation in China Vol. 5 Part 12: Ceramic Technology is a major contribution to the seminal series of works on Chinese science begun by Joseph Needham. The volume on Ceramic Technology is a work of almost one thousand pages. It synthesizes information derived from historic texts, archaeological excavation and the principles of ceramic science.It covers the formation of clays and their relation to the underlying geologies of China, firing, manufacturing methods and sequences, glazes, pigments and gilding, and the impact of Chinese ceramic technology around the world from the 7th century onwards. The volume was unique in its coverage, and is a definitive source book for researchers.
Her book Later Chinese Bronzes,, published by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1990, broke new ground in the study of Chinese bronzes, and remains an important work of reference. Based on the collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the book explored a subject which was at that time new to art history, namely the identification, dating and use of bronze vessels made in the Song-Qing dynasties.
She is honorary associate of the Needham Research Institute at Cambridge University, and an honorary fellow at the University of Glasgow. She is a former chairman, and currently a trustee, of the Great Britain-China Education Trust; a Trustee of the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art; and Museum Expert Advisor for the Hong Kong Government. She is a former president of the Oriental Ceramic Society of London.
Kerr visits Asia frequently and has undertaken sabbaticals at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and the Shanghai Museum. She has taught at the universities of London, Sussex, Glasgow, and Oslo, and was a lecturer for the UK National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies for many years.

Honours

In 2015, Kerr was created an honorary citizen of Jingdezhen, China, the historic centre of Chinese porcelain production, in recognition of her "outstanding contribution to academic research on Jingdezhen ceramics, and the promotion of cultural exchange between the UK and China", the first non-Chinese citizen to be so honoured.

Selected publications

1980s