Ming Porcelain

Rizolli International Publications, Inc., New York, 1978 Book. Very Good. Hardcover. English text; Hardcover (cloth with dust jacket in slipcase); 29 x 33.5 cm; 2.9 Kg; 292 pages with 324 black and white and colour illustrations.; Used book in very good condition with minor signs of wear. The interior is in very good condition. The dust jacket is now protected with a clearcover.; Translated from the French by Katherine Watson.; A magnificent book by the chargée de mission at the Guimet Museum in Paris on the most exquisite form of pottery: Ming porcelain. Highlighted by hundreds of first-rate reproductions, drawings of emblems, symbols and potter's marks, it traces the origins of this art from 1368, the year the Ming Dynasty was founded, and the great Imperial porcelain factory of Ching-tê Chên was built. For almost three centuries Ching-tê Chên remained the prestigious pottery center in China, causing the decline of the celadon green ceramics of the Sung Dynasty. The new master potters developed a distinct style that was once colorful and severe, meticulous and extraordinarily inventive. They excelled in both under-glazed and over-glaze patterns and designs that became legendary in their own time. But perhaps the most precious of all Ming porcelain art was the 'eggshell" wares which the Chinese called "bodiless" because of their almost ethereal thinness. A chronological table, a bibliography, a glossary of Chinese terms and an index complete this brilliant survey of a major Chinese art form, and a triumph of modern bookmaking..