Julian King

Julian King studied Classical and Modern Chinese at Oxford University. After graduating in 1999, he worked briefly for a new Internet consultancy before joining the Chinese department of an international auction house in London as a cataloguer of ceramics and works of art. He worked on major biannual sales in London and assisted with the Hong Kong and New York auctions. Major achievements from 2000-2004 included the discovery of the only Chenghua 'tian' jar ever to appear at auction. After a break from the auction business, he joined Bonhams, London in 2005 where he assisted Colin Sheaf with the biannual sales in London and Hong Kong. In 2008, he was appointed Head of Ceramics and Works of Art in Hong Kong. At Oxford, Julian's main passion in Chinese art was for archaic material, particularly bronzes of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. In addition to his love of Imperial porcelain, this passion has graduated to an interest in archaism as a concurrent influence on works of art from the Song through to the Qing dynasty. Having lived in the Himalayas in 1994-5 teaching English to Tibetan monks, he is also fascinated by Sino-Tibetan iconography and gilt-bronzes.