Discover the rich artistic heritage of Asia, from the Ming Chinese to the Ottomans and the Mughals. Study how Asian artists and craftspeople refined the arts of painting and calligraphy, ceramics, metalwork, textiles and carpets, carving and sculpture. Explore architectural settings developed for worship, courtly and domestic life and examine the shifting relationship between function and form which shaped objects for ritual and practical use. Discuss changes in taste and connoisseurship and the impact of the artistic patronage of rulers, scholars and merchants. Trace the growth of an export market stimulated by contact with European nations, in which furniture, textiles, ceramics and lacquerware began to feature alongside staple exports of tea, silk and spices. This popular Year Course sheds new light on an era of unprecedented international artistic exchange.