Virginia Louise Bower *77

Virginia died in Princeton, Dec. 13, 2025, after an extended illness.

Born in Detroit, March 13, 1950, Virginia graduated from Michigan State in 1971 and earned a Ph.D. in art and archaeology from Princeton in 1977.

Virginia was an adjunct associate professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and a visiting instructor at Bryn Mawr, Kean University, Rutgers, and Franklin and Marshall. Her special interests were Chinese ceramics and the arts and culture of the early Chinese imperial dynasties.

Virginia visited Asia as a student of Chinese in Taiwan, and to conduct research and serve as a tour lecturer in China for groups sponsored by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Princeton University Art Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution. She contributed to several museum catalogs, including “Recarving China’s Past: Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of the Wu Family Shrines” for the Princeton University Art Museum.

Virginia was the primary author of From Court to Caravan: Chinese Tomb Sculptures from the Collection of Anthony M. Solomon. She co-authored Decorative Arts: Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings; Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets.

She is survived by her brother, Bruce.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.