Chinese ceramics were among the most sought-after material artefacts of the early modern world, featuring prominently in museums and private collections from Eurasia and Africa to the Americas and Australia. Evidence from land- and sea-based archaeological explorations continues to expand the story of these objects’ wide dissemination, in particular that of the famous blue-and-white wares manufactured in Jingdezhen (southern China). By the turn of the nineteenth century many millions of ceramic objects had found their way from this single Chinese town into the daily lives of people across the globe.

The Jingdezhen ceramics industry has been the subject of a longstanding and enduring fascination for the scholarly world, but recent developments in the emerging discipline of global history make this an opportune moment to reflect on the field, and to pose new questions that require our moving beyond merely quantitative or object-based analyses. Clearly, ceramics played a central role in forging transformative early modern global connections: throughout the period, potters adopted unfamiliar techniques and designs, merchants sought out new markets, and consumers desired ceramics that combined local tastes with fashions and styles from further afield. But how exactly did Chinese ceramics filter into different societies to become part of everyday lives across the globe, and why were some places resistant to their impact? What were the cultural transformations that followed the appropriation of Chinese ceramics in different parts of the early modern world? What effects did ceramics have on the nature of global connections, and who were the brokers and dealers involved in these processes? Transformations in ideas and perceptions brought about by the movement of ceramics might also be considered: did the potter in Mexico attempting to incorporate Chinese styles into local manufacture consider their place of origin? Did Jingdezhen have any meaning as a place for the consumer in Japan or Persia? Did the manufacture of ceramics to the tastes and specifications of invisible global consumers shape perceptions of the wider world held in and around local sites of production?

This international conference to be held at the University of Warwick will bring together experts in a wide range of disciplines and geographical areas to explore such questions. We now invite scholars to submit abstracts of 300-400 words, together with a CV of no more than one page, outlining new research addressing or related to the questions posed above. Papers that attempt to challenge traditional disciplinary or geographical boundaries are particularly encouraged, as are those that raise methodological issues about research into the global history of material cultures. Abstracts should be sent to Dr Stephen McDowall (s.j.mcdowall@warwick.ac.uk) as soon as possible and no later than 15 June 2009. All those who submit abstracts will be notified by 1 July whether their papers can be included in the conference programme, and confirmed speakers will have their travel and accommodation expenses met by the conference committee.