Studies the historical development of early Chinese art through five periods of stylistic change

Ancient China: Art and Archaeology

Arts & Photography

Rawson, Jessica

History & Criticism

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The three millennia up to the establishment of the first imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC cemented many of the distinctive elements of Chinese civilization still in place today: an extraordinarily challenging geography and environment; formidable infrastructure; a society based on the strict hierarchy of the family; a shared written script of characters; a cuisine founded on rice and millet; a material culture of ceramics, bronze, silk, and jade; and a unique concept of the universe, in which ancestors continue to exist alongside the living. Records of these early achievements and their diverse expressions often lie not in written history but in how people marked the end of their lives: their dwellings for the afterlife. Tombs and the treasures within them are almost the only artifacts to survive from Ancient China; their scale and sophistication rivals their equivalents in Ancient Egypt.\nJessica Rawson, one of the most eminent Western scholars of China, explores twelve grand tombs―each from a specific historical moment and place―showing how they reveal wider political, dynastic, and cultural developments, culminating in the lavish ambition of the First Emperor's monument, guarded by his army of terracotta warriors. Beautifully illustrated and drawing on the latest archaeological discoveries, Life and Afterlife in Ancient China illuminates a constellation of beliefs about life and death and provides a remarkable new perspective on one of the oldest civilizations in the world.

Life and Afterlife in Ancient China

University of Washington Press

Ancient Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections: Western Zhou Bronzes (ANCIENT CHINESE BRONZES IN THE ARTHUR M SACKLER COLLECTIONS)

Sculpture

Arthur M. Sackler Foundation & the Arthur M. Sackler Museum

Ancient China, art and archaeology

The book traces the development of early Chinese art and its historical context.

British Museum Publications

Politics & Social Sciences

Archaeology

Published for the Trustees of the British Museum by British Museum Publications

Chinese Ornament: The Lotus and the Dragon

British Museum Pubns Ltd

Chinese bronzes are one of the world's major art forms. Few if any other ancient cultures achieved the artistic excellence and technical virtuosity in bronze attained in China. Using a unique casting method involving multiple ceramic section moulds, the Chinese cast vessels, weapons and ornaments of great beauty and elegance. Ritual vessels, used for offerings of food and wine to the ancestors, were covered with patterns of real and mythical beasts. In a comprehensive introductory essay Jessica Rawson considers the extraordinary casting of the bronzes, their functions and the questions they pose. Her account surveys the latest excavations and research in the field. The remainder of the book catalogues over forty of the British Museum's world-famous collection of Chinese bronzes.

Chinese bronzes: Art and ritual

The Chinese have revered the mystery and magic of jade since ancient times. This authoritative book provides an up-to-date and comprehensive survey of six thousand years of development, from the earliest cultures to the twentieth century. The author describes and assesses the variety of roles and functions, ritual and ceremonial, which jade has played in China. Recent discoveries from hitherto little known neolithic cultures of around 3000 BC have highlighted the extraordinary skills of the craftsmen and the complexity of the cultures that supported them. Other remarkable finds include the precursors of the famous jade suits, which range from jade plaques and shrouds dating from about 900 BC to superb pendants and sword fittings carved for a king buried near Canton in around 122 BC.  This catalogue describes over 300 outstanding pieces from Sir Joseph Hotung's collection, which spans the history of jade in China. Drawing upon the very latest archaeological research to set jade in its historical and artistic context, this work will stand as a definitive reference for many years to come. In her wide-ranging introduction to the catalogue the author analyses the arguments and sets out new views, supplementing this major essay with a series of shorter introductions to the chronological sections into which the jades of different types, shapes and functions have been divided. The book is fully illustrated throughout with specially commissioned photographs of each piece from the collection, all in color, along with comparative examples from the rich collection of the British Museum.

Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing

Art Media Resources Ltd

MYSTERIES OF ANCIENT CHINA: NEW DISCOVERIES FROM THE EARLY DYNASTIES

History

Asia

BRITISH MUSEUM

Chinese Jade - From the Neolithic to the Qing

Michaelson, Carol

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Books by Rawson, Jessica