A Study of Chinese Paintings in the Collection of Ada Small Moore.

London etc., Oxford University Press, 1940, XVI,279; 10 (Supplement) pag., 56 (3 col.) collotype plates (of which 9 manifolding (2 col.), original gilt green cloth, folio (39x30,7 cm.). - Endpapers w. traces of long-gone insects; owner's entry. Very good copy. = Very rare. Including the 10-page supplement, which was published in 1941. "The volume begins with an Introduction and a general description of the collection. These are followed by a description of each painting and the translation of its seals and inscriptions. At the end of the book is a chapter on seals, their carving and use, together with the photographic reproduction of 115 seals and a key with their translation and the identification of their owners, and Biographical Notes on the Painters, commentators, poets, and seal-owners connected with the paintings. There are also an Index of Chinese names, words, terms and seals, with their Chinese characters, and English Indexes of proper names, seals (in translation), and miscellanea, covering such subjects as calligraphy, its styles and use as an art form; discussion of paper and silk, and of signatures; duties of officials, legends and stories connected with the paintings; paintings, ancestral, animals, birds, flowers and plants, religious subjects, and their use on special occasions and for special purposes, symbols and symbolism; technique, brush strokes, materials used and preparation of, and methods used for Buddhist paintings, buildings, flowers, etc, and by individual painters" (from the publishers).The paintings in the collection date from pre-T'ang times to the Ch'ing Dynasty, some of them among the greatest Chinese paintings known. Among them are the great landscape by Hsia Küei, and such recorded paintings as "An Assembly of Birds on a Willow Bank," attributed to Huang Ch'üan; "Snow, River, and Returning Boat," by Emperor Hui Tsung; "An Orchid in Autumn," by Chêng Ssu-hsiao; "Mountains and Water," by Mi Fei; "A White Prunus in Blossom," by Wang Mien, etc.…