Chinese Art: Gold, Silver, Later Bronzes, Cloisonné, Cantonese Enamel, Lacquer, Furniture, Wood (volume two)

Phaidon Press Ltd, London, 1981 Book. Good. Hardcover. 2nd Edition. English text; Hardcover (with dust jacket); 277 pages with 211 illustrations, including 68 in colour; 21 x 27.3 cm; 1.335 Kg; Used book with signs of wear in the dustjacket. Some yellowing in the interior and Ex-libris stamped on front free endpaper. Protected with a clearcover; The so-called “minor arts” of China have been vastly neglected in Western literature. Twen-tieth-century scholars have confined themselves mainly to study of early bronzes, jades, sculpture, pottery and porcelain. The first publication of this volume nearly twenty years ago was a major event in the study of the minor arts of China and a sumptuous companion to the earlier volume, which was hailed not only for its scholarly text but also for the magnificence of its reproductions in colour and monochrome. This second volume covers great artistic achievements in gold and silver ornaments and images; works on bronze, iron and pewter, delicate cloisonné and Cantonese enamel; and painted, carved and inlaid lacquer objects, from their beginnings in pre-Han times to the throne of the eighteenth-century Emperor Ch’ien Lung. It discusses wood-carvings of all kinds, including the furniture which inspired the designs of Thomas Chipendale. The authors, the late R. Soame Jenyns and William Watson, both formerly of the British Museum, have assembled for this book the most important works in a variety of exotic materials. The text is learned but also appeal to the general reader who has no previous knowledge about the subjects discussed. .