Chinese Art vol.1 PDF
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Chinese Art -I WILLIAM WILLETTS A PELICAN BOOK Chinese Art attempts to relate the traditional art- forms of China to the social, political, and techno- logical conditions out ofwhich thev arose. Each art- formhas achapter ofits own, where it itis discussed in the context ofa particular historical epoch during which, for one reason or another, it reached an especially characteristic stage of development. The chapters are arranged chronologically,so that Chinese Art may be read as a continuous record of four thousand years ofChinese art history. There are 64 pages of plates, numerous tables and maps, and well over 100 line drawings representing several hundred objects. Volume One opens with an account of the geo- graphical background of Chinese society, and ofits prehistory. Then follows a chapter onjade, setin the contextoflate Neolithic China, and one ontheartof the ritual bronzes covering the first two historical dynasties - the Shang-Yin and Chou. Lacquer and silk, those two distinctively Chinese art-forms, are described in the setting ofHan dynasty China and its trade relations with the Roman Orient. Volume One ends with a discussion ofBuddhist sculpture during the period ofits most vital artistic achievement - the Six Dynasties and the first halfcentury or so ofthe T'ang. For a complete list ofbooks available please write to Penguin Books whose address can be found on the back ofthe title page BOOKS PELICAN A 358 VOLUME ONE ART CHINESE WILLETTS WILLIAM % if CHINESE ART BY WILLIAM WILLETTS VOLUME ONE PENGUIN BOOKS Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex U.S.A.: Penguin Books Inc., 3300 ClipperMill Road, Baltimore 11, Md Australia: Penguin Books Pty Ltd, 762 Whitehorse Road, Mitcham, Victoria First published 1958 Copyright © WilliamWilletts, 1958 Made andprinted in Great Britain by RichardClay & Company, Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk CollogravureplatesbyHarrisonandSons To my Mother and Father CONTENTS VOLUME I List of Plates xiii List of Figures, Tables, and Maps xxi Foreword xxxiii Introduction Definition I Scope 3 Method 4 Romanization 8 Notes on Cross-references, Bibliography, Index, and Appendices 8 Geography and Early Man 1. The Eighteen Provinces (Shift pa sheng) 9 Climate 13 Regional Divisions ofthe Eighteen Provinces 13 The Isolation ofthe Eighteen Provinces 22 Greater China 25 China as the Centre ofa 'Pacific Culture' 26 EARLY MAN IN CHINA 26 Giant Man? 27 Peking Man 28 Middle and Upper Paleolithic Man in China; Loess 33 Mesolithic and Neolithic Cultures in the pen-Gobi Region 37 Movement ofMesolithic Populations ofEastern Asia 38 Neolithic Cultures of North China 42 Problems of Dating 46 2. Jade An Element in Neolithic Chinese Culture 53 The Material 50 vii CONTENTS Techniques ofWorkingJade 58 Sources ofChineseJade 60 The Beginnings ofChineseJade-carving 61 The Symbolism ofEarly ChineseJades 62 Jade Used in Imitation ofTools and Weapons 66 Classes ofChinese RitualJades 69 Decorative Objects inJade 106 Bronze 3. The Beginnings ofthe Bronze Age in China 108 The Society ofthe Bronze Age in China 113 Bronze Materials 120 Bronze-casting Techniques 121 The Purpose ofthe Ritual Bronzes; Inscriptions 124 Classes ofRitual Vessels 125 Secular Bronzes 155 The Styles ofthe Ritual Bronzes 156 Lacquer and Silk 4, introduction 174 The Political and Military Background ofthe Han Em- pire 176 Wu The Reign ofEmperor (140-85 B.C.) 178 The Western Regions 179 Chinese Expansion in the South and East 184 The Northern Regions 186 LACQUER l88 The Lac Tree in Han and pre-Han China 188 Location ofthe Han Lacquer Industry 192 Composition and Mode ofPreparation ofLacquer 193 Properties ofLacquer 194 Uses ofLacquer 195 Painting in Lacquer the Ancestor of Later Chinese Pictorial Art? 197 The Technique ofLacquering 198 Classes ofLacquer Decoration 201 viii
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