The Art History Association is pleased to announce that Jacqueline Cao and Hudson Kauffman have been selected by their peers as the 2025 winners of the I. N. Winbury Award. The award, which includes a $300 stipend for book purchases, is presented annually to one MA student and one PhD student. Academic papers are submitted for consideration to the graduate student organization, which arranges for a panel of doctoral students to judge the MA papers and a panel of MA students to judge the doctoral papers.
In “Scaling New Heights: A Multicolored Dragon Ridge Finial from the Ming Dynasty,” MA student Jacqueline Cao examines a pair of identical stoneware ridge finials or zhengwěn (正吻) from the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, now housed in the David Owsley Museum of Art. By exploring the uniqueness of the finials’ multicolored scheme and dual dragon imagery, this study investigates how these visual motifs symbolize and reflect imperial authority, cosmic connections, and Ming Dynasty philosophical beliefs. Jacqueline is a second-year MA and the recipient of the 2024–25 Patricia Rose Fellowship. She serves the department as a library assistant and is also the treasurer of the graduate student Art History Association. Her focus in her studies is on museum education, curation, and collections, and she is currently an intern at the John G. Riley Center & Museum. Jacqueline hopes to pursue a career in the museum field after graduation this spring, and is passionate about fostering engaging environments in both educational and professional settings.
In his paper “Porphyry at the Periphery: Contextualizing the Porphyry Sarcophagus in the Winchester Psalter,” doctoral student Hudson Kauffman examines a porphyry sarcophagus in the scene of the Virgin’s Assumption, connecting it to a wider trend across Europe of spoliating sarcophagi for religious and political claims. Hudson Kauffman is a first-year PhD student specializing in Late Antique and medieval art. His research explores ambiguous and multipurpose imagery in both public and private spaces. His MA thesis, Villains on Vellum, analyzed the depiction of racially composite “others” in the 14th-century Luttrell Psalter. Hudson has also collaborated with Dr. Nancy de Grummond on Etruscan art, presenting his work on the iconography of bronze vessels from Cetamura del Chianti at the Cetamura 50th Anniversary symposium. He is a recent recipient of the Kenneth Reckford Fellowship for archaeological research in Italy.
Congratulations to Jacqueline and Hudson on being recognized for the high caliber of their research and writing! The Art History Association thanks everyone who submitted papers and participated in the judging this year.