This beautifully designed and illustrated catalogue presents the 218 gifts of Chinese art from Ruth and Bruce Dayton to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Ranging in date from the Shang to the Qing, these objects were carefully chosen to form a high-quality and well-balanced collection that encompasses all classical Chinese traditions. They include ancient metalwork, Buddhist arts, lacquer, ceramics, painting and calligraphy, classical furniture and literati objects. Among the highlights are a Warring States inlaid bronze chariot fitting, a large Han bronze horse and a Han bronze money tree, a Song wooden Buddhist sculpture, Ming sutras and Taoist paintings, Sino-Tibetan Buddhist arts, outstanding lacquerwares of the Han, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, Song, Yuan and Ming paintings in the literati tradition, Ming hardwood furniture, and a variety of scholar's objects.

In this volume, William Watson and Chuimei Ho begin with discussions of "fine" art and painting and progress to an analysis of carving and sculpture, ceramics, glassware, and textiles. The authors demonstrate how, in the age of the Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, the "decorative" arts rose to prominence in a way quite unlike the western experience. Avoiding misrepresentative categorization, they single out period styles, identify repeated phases of archaism and Buddhist art, and discuss characteristic groups of jade, ivory, ceramics, glassware, and textiles. They consider the importance of the imperial workshops and their role in developing craftsmen's skills and encouraging the cross-over of techniques from different disciplines, and they direct attention to the compelling influence of Emperor Qianlong's aesthetic innovations.
In architecture, the vast plan and overwhelming authority of the imperial buildings is discussed in contrast with the restrained subtlety of domestic architecture and garden design, where magnificent rocks were the principal feature just as in landscape painting. The survey concludes by examining the development of East/West trade and the effects of commercialization on Chinese arts and crafts. This is a handsome, well-illustrated book that will be a valuable and illuminating resource for all who are interested in the arts of China.

Published to accompany a historic exhibition held in Florence, Italy at the Palazzo Strozzi in 2008, this oversized catalog (9.75x11.25") features 8 essays and full catalog entries for 132 works of Chinese painting, calligraphy, and sculpture from Chinese museums. Written by specialists in Chinese art based in the US, Europe, and Taiwan, the essays discuss topics that include Chinese Buddhism, nomads and merchants in China, horses in Han art, and the Tang dynasty in recent Chinese film. The art works are reproduced in full-page color plates of superb quality. There is an extensive bibliography, but no index. Distributed by Rizzoli. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Like most of China's amazing archaeological discoveries, the terracotta army was found by accident. It came to light in 1974 when local farmers were drilling a well. Since then, remarkable discoveries at the First Emperor's burial site have ben ongoing, revealing the wealth of China's ancient past.

With contributions from leading scholars, China's Terracotta Warriors presents a panoramic view of Qin artistic, military, and administrative achievements under the powerful ruler sho proclaimed himself First Emperor of China. In addition to findings from his tomb complex, it examines the period of Chinese history preceding the First Emperor's reign (246-210 BCE) and his establishment of the Qin empire and dynasty in 221 BCE.

The Qin state had been in existence for over half a millennium before the First Emperor came to the throne, and its rulers had played their parts in the evolution of a small state into a superpower. Only in recent years has that history been revealed through a series of remarkable and often accidental discoveries of tombs and burials of early Qin royals and aristocracy. In the absence of substantive and reliable written sources, it is this archaeological evidence which provides clues to Qin's rise from state to empire.

China's Terracotta Warriors is published to accompany exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

The essays in this volume offer a variety of perspectives on the impact of the West on indigenous literature, architecture, painting, and calligraphy during this period (ca. 1860-1980).

At a time when interest in China has never been greater, this revised edition of Mary Tregear's authoritative survey of the Chinese visual arts will be welcomed by art lovers, travelers, and students alike. Generously illustrated and eminently readable, it covers not only bronzes, jades, calligraphy, and painting, but also Buddhist sculpture, ceramics, textiles, jewelry, lacquer, garden design, and architecture. For the revised edition, Chinese names, places, and terms have been romanized to current international usage. Throughout, information has been updated in view of new finds; there is a new introduction, and the final chapter on twentieth-century art has been completely rewritten. Includes a chronology of Chinese historical periods and six maps.

-Discover the artists that created a unique abstract art that led to the regeneration of 20th century Chinese painting -Abstract art at the crossroads of East and West -An unknown artistic universe showing the fabulous history of Chinese artists who fled to Taiwan At the end of the 1940s, in the troubled political context of the Chinese civil war and the subsequent seizure of power by Mao Zedong, over a million Chinese left the mainland to seek refuge in Taiwan. In the new world that opened to them, the artists gradually discovered the abstract art of the schools in New York and Paris. Abstraction became a means for them to become part of the international modernist movement, while expressing their deep cultural roots. At the crossroads of the East and West, they created a unique art that led to the regeneration of 20th century Chinese painting. Text in English and French.