The Forger’s Creed: Reinventing Art History in Early Modern China

The Forger’s Creed examines how and why numerous fake texts, forged paintings, and bogus art theories were fabricated in the late Ming and early Qing periods. Investigating the forgeries as sites of conflict and negotiation in the production and consumption of art invisibly shared between different social groups, Park considers the establishment of a refined and elegant public sphere under the rubric of “legitimate lineage” as an attempt by elites to regulate public discourse on art.