Mary Tregear was a museum curator and art historian specializing in Chinese art

Chinese art

Chinese art is visual art that, whether ancient or modern, originated in or is practiced in China or by Chinese artists or performers. Early so-called "stone age art" dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly consisting of simple pottery and sculptures. This early period was followed by a series of art...

. She was born in Wuchang

Wuchang

Wuchang was one of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China. It stood on the right bank of the Yangtze River, opposite the mouth of the Han River...

, China.

She was a curator at Hong Kong University’s Fung Ping Shan Museum, then a member of staff at the Ashmolean Museum

Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...

, Oxford, where she was Assistant Keeper for the Chinese collection, from 1961, and then Keeper of Eastern Art, 1987-1991. She was a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford

St Cross College, Oxford

St Cross College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is an all-graduate college, sharing attractive, traditional-style buildings on a central site in St Giles', just south of Pusey Street...

, a fellow of the British Academy

British Academy

The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...

, and President of the Oriental Ceramic Society.

Main publications

• Catalogue of Chinese Greenware, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1976.
• Chinese Ceramics in the Ashmolean Museum. An illustrated handbook to the collections, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1979.
• Song Ceramics, Thames and Hudson, London, 1982.
• Kiln Sites of Ancient China (by Penelope Hughes-Stanton and Rose Kerr, ed. by Mary Tregear), Oriental Ceramic Society, 1980
• Oriental Lacquer: Chinese and Japanese lacquer from the Ashmolean Museum(O.R. Impey and Mary Tregear), Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1983.