Rachel Saunders

Rachel Saunders is an Assistant Professor of Japanese Art History at Princeton University's Department of Art and Archaeology. She specializes in Buddhist materiality, arboreal arts, and the intersection of science with art history. Her research explores nonhuman ecologies in Japanese art, particularly in bird-and-flower painting and medieval Buddhist objects.

Education: B.A. University of Oxford; M.A. University of London (SOAS); Ph.D. Harvard University (2015).

Research interests include Buddhist object ontologies, sacred scrolls, and the material culture of medieval Japan. Recent projects focus on Prince Shōtoku relics and Xuanzang narratives. Her curatorial work includes exhibitions like Painting Edo (2020) and Prince Shōtoku: The Secrets Within (2019).

Her scholarly contributions bridge art history with environmental and scientific perspectives, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to Japanese art.