Center for the Art of East Asia

This past Jan and Feb, representatives from CAEA joined a team from Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJU) in travelling to American museums to advance the work of the Dispersed Chinese Art Digitization Project (DCADP). The team conducted 3d scanning work at the Art Institute of Chicago, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Field Museum of Natural History. One of the highlights from the scanning work included the discovery in the Nelson-Atkins Museum’s storage of what is believed to be an original head fragment from the south portion of the Empress Procession relief. The team also deployed for the first time an automated camera system for capturing large murals using photogrammetric techniques. The device was designed by Prof Chen Qiang from XJU, and used to scan the mural of Wenshu at the Cincinnati Art Museum. In addition to 3d scanning work, the CAEA/XJU teams met with staff at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Penn Museum, MFA Boston, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Museum of Asian Art to share updates on the DCADP, and discuss future plans. CAEA extends its gratitude to each of the museums visited for their ongoing participation in this important project.