The George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation

Project Title: Lens onto the World:  Optical Devices, Art, Science, and Society in China

Kristina Kleutghen is a specialist in Chinese art, particularly of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Her research investigates cross-cultural interaction, the imperial court, optical devices, and connections to science and mathematics. Her first book, Imperial Illusions: Crossing Pictorial Boundaries in the Qing Palaces, was published in 2015 by University of Washington Press. Her second book, on exoticizing decorative objects produced for the eighteenth-century emperors of China, is forthcoming with University of Washington press. The Howard Foundation fellowship will fund fieldwork for her third book project, Lens onto the World: Optical Devices, Art, Science, and Society in China.