This talk will be held online only as part of the Australasian Network for Asian Art program in 2026

In the second session of the Australasian Network for Asian Art (AN4AA) Postgraduate Talk Series, “Mongolian Crosses and China in Chanoyu: Reframing Perceptions of Art and Material Culture”, moderated by Russell Kelty, Curator, Asian Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), Alexander Sutherland and Zixi Chen explore cross-cultural and historical exchanges in Asia. By reconsidering Mongolian crosses alongside Sinophilic influences on Japanese tea culture, the talk invites new perspectives on how artistic traditions are interpreted, translated, and understood across cultural boundaries.

Alexander Sutherland (University of Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand)

Doing Art History Across Borders: Cultural Resonance and Dissonance in the Case of the ‘Nestorian Crosses’

The collection of art and material culture in Asia during the nineteenth century resulted in the emergence of new categories of cross-cultural interpretation. The category of ‘Chinese art’ was one such category, contrasted with the generalised ‘art’ of the European tradition. European collectors viewing art and material culture in China applied familiar terminology to describe and categorise the objects they encountered. Over the course of my research into this phenomenon, the questions raised by art historian James Elkins have proved fruitful for considering the complexities of interpreting and categorising art and material culture across cultural boundaries.

In particular, I am interested in how different conceptual frames of reference can not only shape how an object is viewed but also how ‘foreign’ objects can, in turn, shape the observer’s interpretive frameworks. By examining the case of the collection of unclassified bronzes from Inner Mongolia in the 1930s, this paper will consider the relationship between cultural perspective and the categorisation of art outside of an individual’s cultural background. I will assess how new preconceived ideas originating in European and North American contexts guided the creation of a new category of material culture from non-European cultures. In so doing, I aim to ask what researchers of Asian art can learn from past practices in relation to their own cultural resonances and dissonances.

Zixi Chen (University of Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand)

Before Chanoyu: Musō Soseki and His Chinese World

This talk focuses on the Japanese Tea Ceremony, often described as a cultural practice peculiar to Japan. However, many of its ideas and forms have historical roots in China, a fact largely neglected in scholarship. My research reframes the history of the Japanese Tea Ceremony by exploring how Chinese cultural elements were absorbed and reinterpreted in its practice.

The early history of the Japanese Tea Ceremony is closely linked to a few key figures, one of whom is Musō Soseki. Soseki was important to Japanese culture in general and influential on later Japanese Tea Ceremony artists. He was a well-known Zen Buddhism master and garden designer. My talk will reveal (1) Soseki was highly proficient in Chinese learning and culture, (2) his garden-design work, the Saihōji, clearly reflects this Sinophilia, (3) Saihōji is a prototype for Japan’s first garden, and (4) Soseki and Saihōji exerted a strong impact on the later development of culture related to the Japanese Tea Ceremony.

Alexander Sutherland is an independent researcher based in Aotearoa New Zealand, who received his doctorate in art history from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His major research interests include cultural history and the history of ideas, focusing on cross-cultural exchange between East and West. He is the author of ‘Paving the Silk Road: Trends in Silk Road Historiography’ NZ Journal of Asian Studies 21.1 (2019), and ‘Crosses and Lotuses: An Introduction to the “Nestorian Crosses” NZ Journal of Asian Studies 26.1 (2024).

Zixi Chen is a PhD candidate in Art History at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. She majored in Japanese Language and Literature for her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. Her doctoral research is a cross-cultural study aimed at re-visioning the history of chanoyu (茶湯), or the Japanese Tea Ceremony, by exploring the Chinese cultural elements in chanoyu. As a chanoyu researcher, Zixi has also been learning to perform the ceremony herself over the last two years, which has greatly deepened her understanding of her research area.

Images: A Bronze "Nestorian Cross" from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. Photo Credit: F. A. Nixon Collection, Hong Kong University and Art Museum, HKU. M 61. 1 | A bowl of tea prepared as part of the Japanese Tea Ceremony. Photo credit: Zixi Chen.

The Australasian Network for Asian Art (an4aa) is a group of researchers including academics and curators from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand working in the field of Asian art and visual culture. The Network and its affiliated listserv serve as a platform to share research, promote events and exhibitions, foster a scholarly community, cultivate interest, and act as a vehicle for advocacy.

Contact the host of AN4AA Talks 2026 | Alexander Sutherland & Zixi Chen | Mongolian Crosses and China in Chanoyu: Reframing Perceptions of Art and Material Culture

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