CHINESE POTTERY AND PORCELAIN 1ST ED. (PAPERBACK) - Softcover

VAINKER

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0714114707 ISBN 13: 9780714114705

Publisher: BRITISH MUSEUM, 1995

Synopsis

This is a survey of the development of Chinese ceramics from the Neolithic period to the present day. Assessing the roles pottery has played throughout the history of China, this book also discusses its impact on the ceramic industries of the rest of the world. From the earliest earthenwares to the exotic burial figures of the Tang, from the classic forms and subtle glazes of the Song to the famous porcelains created especially for export or imperial tastes, the book draws upon the collections of the British Museum for illustrations. Consideration is paid to the purposes for which the ceramics of each period were made, how their production was organised, and what effect local conditions might have had on their final forms. The book incorporates contemporary commentaries, recent archeological evidence from kiln sites and the most up-to-date scientific analysis.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

The art of Chinese ceramics encompasses prehistoric clay figurines of pregnant women, bronze ritualistic bells, exotic earthenware figures of merchants in the Central Asian silk trade, Ming writing-boxes bearing Arabic inscriptions, Taoist shrines adorned with lacquer and gilding, and pagoda tiles molded with monster masks. It's an art as richly varied as Chinese civilization itself, as this resplendently illustrated survey makes abundantly clear. Vainker, a curator at the British Museum, draws on the museum's vast collection of Chinese stoneware, porcelain and religious sculpture in her absorbing narrative. Proceeding from the riotous gaiety of Tang "three-color wares" (A.D. 618-906) to the classical equilibrium of 12th-century Song pottery to a modern, softly glowing "eggshell" porcelain vase, Vainker vibrantly charts "a continued transformation of the contemporary into the collectable."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: BRITISH MUSEUM
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0714114707
• ISBN 13: 9780714114705
• Binding: Paperback