Art in China

A beautifully illustrated new edition of the ultimate single-volume guide to the history of art in China, from neolithic times to the 21st century

China boasts a history of art lasting over 5,000 years and embracing a huge diversity of forms - objects of jade, lacquer and porcelain, painted scrolls and fans, sculptures in stone, bronze and wood, and murals. But this rich tradition has not, until now been fully appreciated in the West where scholars have focused attention on the European high arts of painting and sculpture, downplaying arts more highly prized by the Chinese themselves, such as calligraphy. Art in China marks a breakthrough in the study of the subject. Drawing on recent innovative scholarship - and newly-accessible studies in China itself - Craig Clunas surveys the full spectrum of the visual arts in China. He ranges from the Neolithic period to the art scene of the early 21st century, examining 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. This updated edition contains expanded coverage of modern and contemporary art, from the fall of the empire in 1911 to the growing international interest in the art of an increasingly confident and booming China.

1 - Art in the Tomb
2 - Art at Court
3 - Art in the Temple
4 - Art in the Life of the Elite
5 - Art in the Market-Place

Craig Clunas has worked as a curator of Chinese art at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and taught at Sussex University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. He was appointed Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford in 2007, where he is the first holder of the chair to specialise in art from Asia.