Mo D. Zhang

Mo studies Chinese art and visual culture of the early modern period. Her research interests include the role of local agents in bolstering artistic interactions and viewing practices through object-based learning. Her dissertation examines the distinctive significance of push-awning paintings (tuipeng hua) in relation to the cultural landscape in southern China during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). This exploration aims to provide a broader perspective on how geocultural factors affect artistic production, and the dynamic interactions between painting formats and viewing practices of the 15th century.

Mo received a BA (Highest Honors, Phi Beta Kappa) in the History of Art from the University of Michigan and an MA in Art History and Archaeology from Columbia University, where she examined in her thesis the seasonal representations in Ming landscape paintings focusing on a 15th-century Ming handscroll from the Met collection. Prior to joining Penn, she has held internships at the National Museum of Asian Art (Freer Gallery), the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia, Asia Art Archives in America, and Three Shadows Photography Art Centre. 

Selected Conference Papers & Public Lectures

“Push Out the Awning: A Coded Way of Looking in 15th-Century Chinese Painting.” CAA 113th Annual Conference, New York Hilton Midtown, New York City, NY. February 12–15, 2025.

“Palace Splendor: A Closer Look at A Chinese Lacquer Screen at the Penn Museum,” public lecture for the Penn Museum Asia Seminar “Chinese Lacquer Screens at the Smithsonian and Penn Museum.” Penn Museum, Philadelphia, PA. Oct. 21, 2023.

“Not Just Hairpins: Contextualizing Gold Louge Hairpins from the Ming Princely Tomb in Jiangxi” The 3rd Conference of the European Association for Asian Art and Archaeology. University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 13-17, 2023.

“Distilled Moments: The Making of Guanghan Palace.” The Third Middle Period China Humanities Conference, Yale University, New Haven, CT. June 22-25, 2023.

“Turning the Leaves: Embodied Experiences of Painting Albums in Mid-Ming China.” Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, March 24-27, 2022.

“Visual and Poetic Imagination in The Four Seasons, A Ming Handscroll in the Metropolitan Museum.” Association for Asian Studies New England Regional Conference, Harvard University, MA. December 6, 2021.