Author: DEYDIER, CHRISTIAN; BEURDELEY, MICHEL (PREFACE)
Title: Les Bronzes Chinois: Le Guide Du Connaisseur
Description: Office du Livre, S.A. Fribourg (Suisse). 1980, 1st Edition. (ISBN: 2851090933). Hardcover, with dust jacket. Book, French text; Hardcover (cloth with dust jacket); 25.3 x 31.9 cm; 1.868 Kg; 252 pages with 156 illustrations, 41 in colour plus 102 black and white; Used book in very good condition with signs of shelf wear and a minor scuff on the dust jacket. The interior looks almost as new.; This magnificent, splendidly illustrated book discusses recent archaeological finds in China and examines the role they are playing in the expansion of Western knowledge and appreciation of ancient Chinese art. This is particularly true of the bronzes that have come to light during the excavation of royal tombs. Clearly, these elegant works constitute a major artistic genre. As Hilton Kramer noted in his recent New York Times review of the major exhibition, "The Great Bronze Age of China,' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: 'What this glimpse into the dawn of Chinese civilization reveals is an artistic culture of considerable scope and complexity and astonishing, almost runaway technical prowess.' As Chinese Bronzes reveals, the use of bronze in China was limited to highly significant objects: the medium itself was considered precious, magical, almost sacred. Bronze artifacts were intended for imperial or noble use and included a wide range of ceremonial vessels. Even the earliest extant bronzes, from the Shang dynasty, are marked by a high degree of sophistication in both design and craftsmanship. Such early masterpieces of metalwork are part of an artistic continuum that had its origins in prehistory. Across the millennia, stylistic change and development in these bronzes mirrored many of the complex crosscurrents of social, political and religious change in China. Chinese Bronzes provides a rich historical perspective as it traces this artistic evolution from dynasty to dynasty, examining chronologically such diverse influences as Confucianism, Buddhism and anti- Buddhist reaction, and the contact with Islamic art which resulted from trade with Persia. Richly illustrated with hundreds of unusual and rarely reproduced examples, this survey of bronzes includes a pictorial catalogue of 102 specific identifications, summarizing the entire development of this area of Chinese art. The technical problems of casting bronze are treated; a glossary explains the intricacies of Chinese terminology; an index and bibliography are also included. Very Good/Dust Jacket Included.

Keywords: 2851090933 china,chinese bronzes,the shang dynasty,the zhou dynasty,inscriptions,weapons,fibulae,mirrors,the han dynasty,the six dynasties,the sui dynasty,the tang dynasty,the song,yuan and ming dynasties,chinese art,museums,collections Chinese Art


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