The British Museum Book of Chinese Art

Newly revised and updated edition of this award-winning book.This winner of the National Art Book Prize is a richly detailed and fully illustrated survey of Chinese art, ideal for students and all those interested in China.Chinese silks and porcelains, unsurpassed for over a thousand years, have been prized around the world for their fine textures and brilliant colours. Paradoxically, the arts valued most in China have been calligraphy, ink painting, jade carving andbronze casting. The authors explain why, describing the origins of these diverse achievements and setting them in their historical context alongside decorative arts such as lacquer, cloisonne and glass.Drawn from the rich collections of the British Museum, the illustrations include well-known blue-and-white Ming ceramics as well as less familiar jades of the Neolithic period and priceless world-famous paintings on silk from the Buddhist Silk Roadcaves at Dunhuang.