This book covers a wide variety of art forms in China from the earliest times to the present day, setting art in its social and cultural contexts. Unlike existing surveys in the West most of which give prominence to sculpture at the expense of other types, it takes into account traditional Chinese definitions and deals in full with calligraphy and painting, as well as sculpture, textiles, metalworks, and other forms. It is organized by the contexts of reception in Chinese society under the headings Art in the Tomb, Art at Court, Art in the Temple, Art in the Life of the Elite, and Art in the Marketplace, and it includes illustrations of images and objects previously accessible only to specialists.

Craig ClunasSenior Lecturer in Art History, University of Sussex

`Elegantly designed, lavishly illustated and keenly priced ... their series has a clear intellectual agenda.' Boyd Tonkin, The Independent |d 19/05/1997