Ph.D., Harvard University, 2011

B.A., University of Chicago, 2003

Research Interests:

Chinese art and archaeology; ancient Chinese bronzes; art of China’s southern periphery; early imperial court art; history of color; narrative art; materials & technical art history; aesthetics; intellectual history

Biography:

Allison R. Miller specializes in the art and archaeology of early China and investigates the relationship of visual forms to political history and contexts of artistic production. Her interdisciplinary research examines the form and material of Chinese art (paintings, murals, sculpture, textiles) and architecture (palaces, tombs, and temples) in relation to early aesthetics, modes of production, political and intellectual history, and archaeological contexts. Her book, Kingly Splendor: Court Art and Materiality in Han China, was published by Columbia University Press in 2020.

Courses:

05-014 Confucius Says: the Moral Life Examined (Freshmen Seminar)

71-024 Introduction to Art History: East Asian Art

71-214 Arts of China

71-234 Ancient Chinese Art & Civilization

71-254 Landscape & Environment in Chinese Art

71-264 Art in China Since 1911

71-614 Dragons & Demons: Visualizing the Supernatural in East Asian Art

71-814 Theory and Methods of Art History

71-824 Capstone Research Seminar

Books

Miller, A. Kingly Splendor: Court Art and Materiality in Han China. New York: Columbia University Press, 2020. 

Journal Articles

Miller, A. “Bronzes from the Border: Elite Identity and the Incised Tables and Trays of Han Era Lingnan,” forthcoming. 

Miller, A. “Painting Bronze in Early China: Uncovering Polychromy in China’s Classical Sculptural Tradition.” Archives of Asian Art 72.1 (2022): 1-53.

Miller, A.“Jade, Imperial Identity, and Sumptuary Reform in Jia Yi’s Xin Shu.” Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 15.1 (2016): 103-121.

Miller, A.“Emperor Wen’s ‘Baling’ Mountain Tomb: Innovation in Political Rhetoric and Necropolis Design in Early China.” Asia Major (Third Series) 28.2 (2015): 1-37.

Chapters in Edited Volumes

Miller, A. “Literature and the Arts.” In A Cultural History of Chinese Literature, Volume 1: Antiquity (1,250 BCE-200 CE), forthcoming.

Miller, A.“The Han Hybrid Style: Sculpting an Imperial Utopia.” In Dialogue with the Ancients: 100 Bronzes of the Shang, Zhou, and Han Dynasties: The Shen Zhai Collection, edited by Patrick K.M. Kwok, 84-97. Singapore: Select Books, 2018.

Reviews

Miller, A. Review of Liu Yang, ed. Beyond the First Emperor’s Mausoleum: New Perspectives on Qin Art (Minneapolis: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2014). CAAreviews.org.

Miller, A. Review of Dusenbury, Mary M., ed. Color in Ancient and Medieval East Asia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015). Journal of the American Oriental Society 137.1 (2017): 140-142.