Events › Clay & Culture: A Journey through Asian Ceramics

This insightful tour of the Asian Art Museum’s collection traces the development of ceramic art from its ancient origins, revealing the wide-ranging influence of Chinese ceramics on ceramic traditions across Asia and worldwide. This talk complements New Japanese Clay, on exhibit at the Asian Art Museum through February 2, 2026.

The Asian Art Museum Docent Program is generously supported by the Dhanam Foundation and Society for Asian Art. This program is made possible by the Friends of Saratoga Libraries and is part of SCCLD's Lunar New Year programming.

This is the first presentation in a series of Asian Art Museum virtual talks we are hosting for 2026. Future talks include:

• Tuesday, May 5, 2026 - Reimagining Traditions: Conversations between Contemporary Artists and Antiquity
• Tuesday, September 22, 2026 - Asian Paintings: Worlds of Creativity
• Tuesday, November 3, 2026 - Darshan: The Act of "Seeing" in Hindu Art

All programs will be held online from 7 to 8 PM. Click the links above to register. Please register for each program you are interested in attending virtually. Programs will not be recorded.

Photos Courtesy of the Asian Art Museum

Cover Photo: 
Dish with wave-and-rock motif, approx. 1575-1600. Turkey. Ottoman period (1281-1924). Stonepaste; polychrome painted under transparent glaze. Asian Art Museum, Gift of the Menke family in memory of their parents and grandparents Betty and John Menke, 2015.26. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Lidded jar with design of a lotus pond, 1522-1566. China; Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Reign of the Jiajing emperor (1522-1566). Porcelain with underglaze cobalt and overglaze multicolor decoration. Asian Art Museum, The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P78+.a-.b. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Note: This virtual program will be conducted with Zoom. A Zoom link will be sent via email to all registrants before the event. Please check the spelling of your email to ensure that you receive the link. Misspelled email addresses are most often the reason why registrants do not receive a link. If you are not familiar with Zoom, please review the following documents:

Getting Started with Zoom

Zoom technical requirement

A Zoom link will be sent a day or two before the event. If you do not see it in your email's Inbox, please check your Spam and Junk folders. Thank you. 

For accessibility accommodations (ex. ASL), please fill out the online form at sccld.org/accessibility 7+days prior to the event. If you need assistance with the form, speak with a staff member at your local library, call (408) 540-3945, or email us at ask@lib.sccgov.org.