On Wednesday 18 June 2025, the Chinese Export Watercolours in Britain: Collections, Challenges & Potentials Workshop was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), co-organised by the V&A and University College London (UCL). The event was supported by the Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, bringing together collection curators, scientists, managers, educators, university academics and research students from ten different institutions in Britain to discuss Chinese export paintings, sharing current research, and exploring future directions (Fig. 1).

Figure 1: Group photo (from left to right, from front to back) – Hongxing Zhang, Frances Wood, Lucia Burgio, Helen Glaister, Emile de Bruijn, Shilei Zeng, Shelagh Vainker, Sara Chiesura, Andrea Hart, Charlotte Brooks, Han-Lin Hsieh, Shuhua Tang, Lynn Parker, Yi-Hsin Lin, Jin Gao, Yu-Ping Luk, James Lin

The day began with a warm welcome from Hongxing Zhang (Fig. 2), Senior Curator of Chinese Collections at the V&A, who set the tone for an exciting and engaging gathering. The morning presentations began with Jin Gao (Fig. 3), Lecturer in Digital Archives at UCL, introducing the UCL-V&A collaborative project on Chinese Export Watercolours (CEW), which applies digital humanities methods to the digitisation and study of the V&A’s collection. This was followed by a presentation from Lucia Burgio (Fig. 4), Lead Conservation Scientist at the V&A, who outlined the non-destructive scientific methods used to analyse the materials and techniques of the V&A and the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chinese paintings. Two postgraduate students then presented their research work: Shuhua Tang (Fig. 5), a doctoral student at the UCL and V&A, shared her data-driven provenance study of the V&A’s CEW collection, while Eleanor Young (Fig. 6), an MA graduate at UCL, explored the role of women in the collecting history of these artworks through archival research.

Figure 2: Photo of Hongxing Zhang, Senior Curator of Chinese Collections at the V&A, Co-Organiser of the Workshop

Figure 3: Photo of Jin Gao, Lecturer in Digital Archives at UCL, Visiting Research Fellow at the V&A, Co-Organiser of the Workshop

Figure 4: Photo of Lucia Burgio, Lead Conservation Scientist at the V&A

Figure 5: Photo of Shuhua Tang, a doctoral student at the UCL and V&A

Figure 6: Photo of Eleanor Young, an MA graduate at UCL

Following a coffee break, the session turned to institutional collection overviews. Frances Wood (Fig. 7), Former Curator of Chinese collections at the British Library, reflected on a collaborative project of publishing the BL’s CEW collection in China 14 years ago. Yu-Ping Luk (Fig. 8), Basil Gray Curator of Chinese Paintings, Prints and Central Asian Collections, from the British Museum, Shelagh Vainker (Fig. 9), Alice King Curator of Chinese Art, Ashmolean Museum and Associate Professor of Chinese Art at University of Oxford, and James Lin (Fig. 10), Senior Curator of Chinese art of Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge, each gave an in-depth survey of their museum holdings and collecting history of Chinese export watercolours, including their acquisition sources, genres of the artworks, and collection strengths.

Figure 7: Photo of Frances Wood, Former Curator of Chinese collections at the British Library

Figure 8: Photo of Yu-Ping Luk, Basil Gray Curator of Chinese Paintings, Prints and Central Asian Collections, the British Museum

Figure 9: Photo of Shelagh Vainker, Alice King Curator of Chinese Art, Ashmolean Museum and Associate Professor of Chinese Art at University of Oxford

Figure 10: Photo of James Lin, Senior Curator of Chinese art of the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge

After lunch, the afternoon presentations expand the scope further. Emile de Bruijn (Fig. 11), Assistant National Curator Decorative Arts at the National Trust, introduced CEW wallpapers as domestic interior decoration in historic houses in Britain and other European countries. Lynn Parker (Fig. 12), Curator of Illustrations & Artefacts Collections at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, provided a highlight of the Chinese botanical drawing collection held at Kew. Andrea Hart (Fig. 13), Library Special Collections Manager and Head of Special Collections and Archives Division at the Natural History Museum, focused on the UCL-NHM CEW digitisation project, emphasising the value of collaborative rediscovery. Finally, Charlotte Brooks (Fig. 14), Art Curator at the Royal Horticultural Society and a PhD researcher at Queen Mary University of London, shared her research on the RHS Reeves Collection, highlighted the importance of using CEW botanical collections across institutions in her research.

Figure 11: Photo of Emile de Bruijn, Assistant National Curator Decorative Arts at the National Trust

Figure 12: Photo of Lynn Parker, Curator of Illustrations & Artefacts Collections at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew

Figure 13: Photo of Andrea Hart, Library Special Collections Manager and Head of Special Collections and Archives Division at the Natural History Museum

Figure 14: Photo of Charlotte Brooks, Art Curator at the Royal Horticultural Society and a PhD researcher at Queen Mary University of London

In addition to the speakers, the following invited guests also participated in the workshop including Sara Chiesura, Lead Curator of East Asian Collections (China) at the British Library;  Han-Lin Hsieh, Curator for the Chinese Collections at the British Library; Xiaoxin Li, Curator of Chinese Collections at the V&A; Sau Fong Chan, Curatorial Operations Coordinator of Asia Department at the V&A; Yi-Hsin Lin, Data Standard Editor of Chinese Iconography Thesaurus at the V&A; Shilei Zeng, Assistant Curator of East Asia at the V&A; Alexandra Watson Jones, Provenance Research Curator at the V&A; Sarah Belanger, Archivist at the V&A; Jiajie Zhang, Research Associate at UCL.

Figure 15: Photo of Helen Glaister, Asian Art Course Director at the V&A

Figure 16: Photo of the workshop at the V&A Research Seminar Room A

The day concluded with a lively roundtable discussion chaired by Helen Glaister (Fig. 15), Asian Art Course Director at the V&A. This final session encouraged open dialogue among all participants around future directions. Topics discussed included institutional digitisation efforts, potentials for scientific research, opportunities for collaboration, the terminology, and the importance of bringing together CEW collections across different institutions. Recommendations were made for next steps, including a potential book proposal, setting up a CEW network, and joint funding bids for a shared digital resource.

UCL Graduate Students Open Day Wednesday 21 November 2012

UCL Department of Information Studies (DIS) is a leading centre for research and professional education inlibrarianship, information science, archives and records management, publishing and the digital humanities.

Come along to our Faculty and Departmental Graduate Students Open Day: talk to teaching staff, visit the campus and library, hear from researchers and chat with current students. It takes place on Wednesday 21November 2012. From 11am in Wilkins South Cloisters, Gower Street, UCL (please register athttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/ah/grad-open-day/ )

And from 3pm – 7pm in DIS, Foster Court, Ground Floor, UCL (for details see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dis ).

Students benefit from studying in the UK’s largest information school, at one of the world’s top 10 universities. We offer MA/MSc/Diploma programmes in Digital Humanities; Library and Information Studies; Archives and Records Management; Publishing; Electronic Communication & Publishing and Information Science.

Our teaching is built upon an international research reputation: the department hosts three research centres and two research groups: Centre for Publishing, Centre for Digital Humanities (CDH), Centre for Archives and Records Research (ICARUS), Applied Logic Group and Knowledge Organization Group. We welcome research students (MRes, MPhil and PhD) in all these areas.

Facet's book table, shortly before the guests arrived

Thanks to the colleagues, friends and former and current students who attended last night’s drinks party to celebrate the publication by Facet Publishing of two books from lecturers in the department.

Collection Development in the Digital Age edited by Maggie Fieldhouse (UCL) and Audrey Marshall (Brighton) speaks to the many changes that have taken place in collection management in recent years. It suggests ways in which practitioners can take an active role in influencing strategy and includes numerous case studies. Parts cover the concept and practice of collection development, trends in the development of e-resources, trends in library supply, and making and keeping your collections active. Individual chapters have been written by David Ball, David Brown, Josh Brown, Terry Bucknell, Sheila Corrall, Bradley Daigle, Diana Edmonds, Jil Fairclough, Jane Harvell, David House, Tracy Mitrano & Karrie Peterson, Martin Palmer, Wendy Shaw, Ruth Stubbings, and the editors themselves. As the author names suggest, the book covers all library sectors and is both useful for practitioners and essential for LIS students learning how to manage libraries and information centres.

Practical Cataloguing: AACR, RDA and MARC 21 by Anne Welsh (UCL) and Sue Batley (London Metropolitan) introduces the general principles that underpin library cataloguing, the history of the international standards and a closer look at the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules 2nd edition (AACR2) and the dominant library encoding format MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloguing). The book advocates that understanding general principles will allow cataloguers to move from AACR2 to new international standard Resource Description and Access (RDA) without having to relearn everything from scratch. Two chapters deal in depth with RDA (as far as we can deal in depth with a standard that is just being introduced), and another discusses Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), one of RDA’s main theoretical underpinnings. Two brief chapters discuss the current state of play in the introduction of RDA and the predicted change from MARC to a new encoding format. These, and the preface, have been written to be useful to cataloguers and managers alike. There are ten full examples at the end of the book, and countless records throughout the book. From September, Practical Cataloguing will be the core textbook for the cataloguing component of MA LIS core module INSTG004 Cataloguing and Classification.

Thanks to Facet for their support; the Department for hosting (in the Wilkins Terrace) and Dr Melissa Terras, Reader in Electronic Communication and Co-Director of the UCL Centre for Digital Humanities, for her official welcome to UCL. Mostly thanks to everyone who came along and celebrated with us.

On Wednesday 28 March the UCL Centre for Publishing was delighted to welcome Anthony Forbes Watson the  Managing Director of Pan Macmillan to Foster Court.

The occasion was to hand the annual Macmillan prize to our former students Jennifer Kerslake (2010-11) and Liz Donell (2009-10). Each received a  a cheque for £750 in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the MA in Publishing programme. Both are forging careers in the publishing industry with Jennifer working in trade publishing at Orion Book while Liz is working in editorial at Elsevier in Oxford.

Jennifer and Liz receive their cheques from Pan Macmillan MD Anthony Forbes Watson

This Autumn’s exhibition at the UCL Art Museum is directly relevant to students opting to take Historical Bibliography.

Entitled Word and Image: Early Modern Treasures at UCL, it highlights objects from the period 1450-1800 in UCL Art Collections and UCL Library Services Special Collections, including Durer’s Apocalypse series, which we will be studying in INSTG012.

There are several pop-up exhibitions planned for lunchtimes, the first of which is on 4 October – Word Minus Image. I’m selecting examples of images that started out as illustrations for texts – from Durer to the present day. Often important as works of art in their own right, they exist at the intersection of Art History and Historical Bibliography, challenging both disciplines to consider the nature of illustration, the primacy (or otherwise) of text and the role of visual art within the book.  A phenomenon of the early modern period, the removal and resale of prints continues to be a thriving trade today, and this pop-up reflects this.