遊歷全球的西洋木套杯不但承載了豐富的全球史訊息，同時也參與了不同區域視覺文化的形塑及知識的建構。它們在今日博物館中不同敘事脈絡的展示，顯示了它們被觀看、詮釋的共通或不同的角度。同樣的，木套杯在十七到十八世紀時跨越大半地球區域上的流通，亦受到某些共通或相異的對待，藉著這樣的遊歷，它們拉近了歐洲與中國間的遙遠距離，也串起所經之處人與物的種種故事。
本研究即在述說這樣一個全球史時空脈絡下物件的文化史，來自「西洋」的木套杯可作為一個案例、一個切入角度，透過分析其多樣及豐富的經歷，能幫助我們更細緻檢視近代早期珍奇物品的製作、流通、收藏與展示；進一步對盛清時期帝王之認識帶來可能的啟發，看乾隆皇帝如何透過收拾、製匣、陳設與收藏，對全球性物品進行詮釋。如同當代博物館中的策展人，藉由對展品的詮釋、陳列、組合，將我們帶入經過研究、設計所展演出來的敘事脈絡。
研究主要的目標有二：一、透過遊歷全球的西洋木套杯案例，促進器物史研究與物質文化、全球史研究的跨領域對話；二、由清宮收藏及展示西洋木套杯的幾個脈絡，試圖初步探求乾隆皇帝對清宮所藏西洋文物的態度，以及背後可能的一些概念。

The wooden nesting cups of the Qing court are a series of stacked cups (50, 100 or 150 in a set), paper-thin and graduated in size, that were carved entirely from wood and assembled within a wooden goblet. The cups were crafted in southern Germany and traveled extensively, along varied trajectories, from Europe to China in the 17thand 18thcenturies. Such nesting cups are richly endowed in meaning from the perspective of global history and would have impacted visual culture and related knowledge across a wide range of regions.
How they are displayed in contemporary museums reflects how they are viewed, interpreted, and organized by curators today; similarly, examining the presence of these wooden nesting cups at the Qing court and the location and manner of their display within the palace grounds provides insight as to how they were regarded in their own time.
Who are and were the person(s) most responsible for these perspectives? What impact did these unique objects have on the interaction between China and Europe, at the time of their appearance and in later history? These are some of the specific questions this study will explore.
The greater objectives of this study are twofold. First, it aims to use stacked wooden cups as a case study to promote interdisciplinary dialogue across the fields of global history, art history, and material culture studies. Second, it attempts to present the Qianlong emperor's general attitude towards objects from the “Western Ocean” and, by specifically exploring the context in which the wooden cups found themselves at the Qing court, to determine the thoughts underpinning that attitude.