Toward an integrated methodology

Thesis



The thesis is a demonstration of an integrated methodology in the investigation of Chinese paintings.

Section I outlines methods of analysis used by specialists in China, Japan and the West, and proposes their integration.

Section II implements the Integrated Methodology in the identification of prime objects in a group of works attributed to Wu Zhen now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Section III presents a systematic method of investigating the non-genuine works, and charts their respective relationships to the prime objects and/or to each other.

The findings clarify fundamental issues regarding period styles in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and challenge, by implication, long held assumptions of authenticity of a great many works labelled with Yuan dates. They invite a reconsideration of our methodology as well as our basic assumptions of style-images associated with particular masters.

Authors: Stanley-Baker, J; Stanley-Baker, Joan P. Boepple-Hsu

• Alternative title: morphological analyses in the identification of prime objects and the sequence of image-change through historical accretions : Wu Zhen (1280-1354), a case study
• Publication date: 1987
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Subjects: Painting, Chinese; Expertising