Object of Desire

China invented just about everything from paper to gunpowder.

China invented just about everything from paper to gunpowder. Surprisingly, a piece of porcelain from the Kangxi period (1662 to 1722) also places them at the forefront of feminism.

The famille verte baluster vase shows court ladies engaged in painting, calligraphy, playing the qin (a seven-stringed Chinese zither) and engrossed in weiqi, a board game in which strategy is key.

In later Imperial China, women were confined to the home and were not ...