RISD Museum object photography generally follows typical museum practice: a straightforward approach to framing and lighting with great concern for color fidelity. For *Artist/Rebel/Dandy*, the curators suggested that we go in a different direction.
A jade lithophone from 18th-century China offers insight to the significant role of ritual music in ancient China—as an essential part of state rite to assert the legitimacy of reign.
A wooden “do not touch” partition usually separates the period room in Pendleton House from the public. But one Monday in June, that partition was removed, and museum staff peopled the room.
The discovery of these treasures resembles that of a valuable manuscript. They are a new “Codex Africanus,” not written on fragile papyrus, but in ivory and imperishable brass.
An intern explores the history of works from the museum’s ancient collection, tracing the archaeological excavations that brought them to light and into the permanent collection.
