Art in China

China boasts a history of art stretching over 5,000 years and embracing a vast array of forms--objects of jade, lacquer and porcelain, painted scrolls and fans, sculptures in stone, bronze and wood, and murals. With more than 130 halftone illustrations, including almost eighty in full color,
this new edition of Art in China presents the finest one-volume introduction to all forms of Chinese art. The book examines Chinese art in a variety of contexts--as it has been designed for tombs, commissioned by rulers, displayed in temples, created by the men and women of the educated elite, and
bought and sold in the marketplace. Drawing on recent innovative scholarship--and newly accessible studies in China itself--Craig Clunas surveys the full spectrum of the visual arts. This updated edition contains expanded coverage of modern and contemporary art, from the fall of the empire in 1911
to the contemporary video art scene.


"A completely fresh account of Chinese art ... lively and highly accessible."--Professor Dame Jessica Rawson, Merton College, Oxford

"Always lucid and sometime provocative ... incorporates not only the most recent archaeological discoveries, but also the insights of a prodigious amount of recent scholarship ... invalualbe."--Professor Julia K. Murray, University of Wisconsin

"A serious challenge to the conventional practice of art history ... written with lucidity, grace, and wit."--Professor Cao Yiqiang, The National Academy of Art, China