Staff Profile
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Curator of Asian Art
rachel_saunders@harvard.edu / 617-496-9268
Ph.D., Harvard University
M.A., University of London
B.A. (Hons.), University of Oxford
Rachel Saunders is responsible for the Japanese collections at the museums. She earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University (2015) and is a specialist in medieval narrative and sacred painting. Saunders has recently curated the exhibitions Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection (2020) and Prince Shōtoku: The Secrets Within (2019). She was previously a member of the Japanese department of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2004–11), where she worked extensively with early modern rare books. She has held fellowships at the University of Tokyo (2011–14) and at the National Gallery of Art’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), in Washington, D.C. (2014–15).
Recent Publications
Yasurō, Abe, Abe Mika, Chikamoto Kensuke, Rachel Saunders, Seya Ai, and Seya Takayuki (eds.).『ハーバード美術館南無仏太子像の研究』(The Sculpture of Prince Shōtoku at the Harvard Art Museums). Tokyo: Chūō Kōron Bijutsu Shuppan, 2023.
「聖なる絵巻をつくる:『玄奘三蔵絵』における絵と詞」(“The Making of a Sacred Scroll: Explicit Intertextuality in the ‘Illustrated Life of Xuanzang’”). In 佐久間秀範、近本謙介、本井牧子編. 『玄奘三蔵:新たなる玄奘像をもとめて』(The Tripitaka Master Xuanzang: Towards a New Understanding), ed. Sakuma Hidenori, Chikamoto Kensuke, Motoi Makiko, trans. Eric Haruki Swanson, 488–517. Tokyo: Bensei Shuppan, 2021.
「ハーバード大学美術館所蔵聖徳太子二歳像に秘められた意味」(“Secrets of the Sedgwick Shōtoku”). In 佐野みどり先生古稀記念論集刊行会編.『造形のポエティカー日本美術史を巡る新たな地平』(The Poetics of Form: New Horizons in Japanese Art History), ed. Sano Midori Festschrift Committee, trans. Ando Chihoko, 71–86. Tokyo: Seikansha, 2021.
Saunders, Rachel, ed. Catalogue of the Feinberg Collection of Japanese Art. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Art Museums, 2021.
Saunders, Rachel, and Yukio Lippit. Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Art Museums, 2020.
“Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection.” Orientations 51:1 (Jan.–Feb. 2020): 20–33.
“Secrets of the Sedgwick Shōtoku.” Impressions 40 (January 2019): 90–105.