Art Historian, Curator and Sinologist; Former Warden of Merton College, Oxford
Honorary fellow
Dame Jessica Rawson read History at New Hall, matriculating in 1962.
Rawson's academic background is in Sinology with a particular research focus on the cosmology of the Han period (206 BC-AD 220) and its relation to tombs and their decoration. Also educated at St Paul's Girls' School and the University of London, Rawson began her career in the civil service. Between 1976 and 1994, she served as Deputy Keeper and then Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum, before being appointed Warden of Merton College, Oxford. She has been involved in a number of high-profile exhibitions such as the Mysteries of Ancient China.