About the BGC

Ph.D. History of East Asian Art, University of Zurich
M.A. Art History, University of Zurich

My current research focuses on the art and material culture of the Kitan-Liao dynasty (907-1125) in northern China. I am evaluating a number of extraordinary archaeological finds made during the past 50 years that allow us to see the history of this little-known dynasty in an entirely new light. Other research projects have ranged more broadly across the history of Chinese artifacts and covered topics from early antiquity to the eighteenth century. I have published on China’s antiquarian culture, the history of ornament, and on gold and silver, including a book based on my dissertation, Die Goldschmiede der Tang und Song- Zeit, which examines the formation of the goldsmithing profession in China. 

Selected Recent Publications:

• "Metal Objects on the Belitung Shipwreck," and "Bronze Mirrors", in Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds (Washington, DC: Sackler Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, 2010), 81–87; 208–215.
• "Review of Dragons of Silk, Flowers of Gold: A Group of Liao-Dynasty Textiles at the Abegg-Stiftung. Regula Schorta ed. Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung, 2007," Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies 39 (2009), pp. 237–242. 
• "Cauldrons and Mirrors of Yore: Tang Perceptions of Archaic Bronzes," Zurich Studies in the History of Art 13/14 (2006/2007), pp. 202–236 [appeared in May 2009].
• "The Hejiacun Rhyton and the Chinese Wine Horn: Intoxicating Rarities and their Antiquarian Legacy," Artibus Asiae 67, 2 (2007), pp. 201–242. 
• "Han Lacquer Ware and the Wine Cups of Noin Ula," The Silk Road 4, 2 (2006), pp. 48–53.

Read an interview with Professor Louis.