Sabrina RASTELLI

Sabrina Rastelli graduated from Ca' Foscari University of Venice (1993) and was awarded a PhD in Chinese Art and Archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London (2002). Prior to her doctoral studies, she spent a year at Xi'an Northwest University (Xibei Daxue) to further her linguistic and archaeological research. Since 1999, she has taught Chinese Archaeology and History of Art at Ca' Foscari University of Venice.

Her research interests are focused on the following themes:

History of Chinese Ceramics: By synthesising archaeological, technological, and textual studies, she reconstructs ceramic manufacturing processes and situates them within their original cultural contexts.
Recontextualisation of Chinese Art: Moving beyond restrictive Western-centric canons and isolationist Sinocentric perspectives, she analyses Chinese art within the political, social, economic, and cultural frameworks that generated it.
Modern and Contemporary Art: In her role as a consultant for the Treccani Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Art, she coordinated a team of twelve specialists to produce 273 scholarly entries on modern and contemporary art in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
She is the author of numerous scholarly publications, including three monographs and several exhibition catalogues. She regularly presents her research findings at international conferences and as an invited speaker for universities and associations.

She has taught courses at various levels at Peking University, Hanoi University, and the University of Zurich, as well as participating in The Mellon Chinese Object Study Workshop at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art). She has spent extensive periods as a Visiting Fellow at Peking University and at The Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Professor Rastelli has curated or contributed to the organisation of major exhibitions on Chinese art, including: China: Birth of an Empire (Scuderie del Quirinale, 2006), China at the Court of the Emperors: Unknown Masterpieces from Han Tradition to Tang Elegance (25–907) (Palazzo Strozzi, 2008), The Celestial Empire: From the Eternal Army to the Silk Road (Museum of Antiquities, Turin, 2008), The Two Empires: The Eagle and the Dragon (Palazzo Reale, Milan; Curia Iulia and Palazzo Venezia, Rome, 2010), Vivid Transparencies: Yaozhou Wares from the Shang Shan Tang Collection (Museum of Oriental Art, Venice, 2022), she also co-curated the solo exhibition of the Korean artist Yeesookyung, Whisper Only to You (MADRE Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples, 2019).

She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Marco Polo Book Series – Studies in Global Europe-Asia Connections, currently on its fifth publication, and serves on the editorial boards of three academic journals.

She is a member of several learned societies, including the Oriental Ceramic Society (OCS), the European Association for Asian Art and Archaeology (EAAA), and the Society for East Asian Archaeology (SEAA).