A History of Far Eastern Art

New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1994. Cloth, 576 pages, illustrations (some colour); 30 cm. Firm binding, clean inside copy. Dust jacket, with a slightly faded spine, protected in a mylar book cover. A solid copy. OVERSIZE! No priority/air, except by special arrangement. This is the standard reference volume on Asian art. The author was Director at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Includes: chapters on China, Japan, and Korea, as well as India, Pakistan, and South-East Asia. Authoritative. Profusely illustrated (art, architecture). "Sherman E. Lee's A History of Far Eastern Art, for decades regarded as the premier compendium of the visual arts of Asia, is the only book of its scope in English -- a one-volume account that covers art from the Indus River to Japan and Java between the fifth millennium B.C.E. and 1850 C.E. It offers a clear and comprehensive study of the three major artistic traditions of Asia -- Indian, Chinese, and Japanese -- as well as a cogent overview of their interrelationships and their influences on, and from, the neighboring traditions of Southeast Asia and Indonesia, Central Asia, and Korea. Copious illustrations reveal the evolution of styles and artistic traditions, providing in themselves an unrivaled panorama of Asian achievement in art. This new edition of A History of Far Eastern Art takes full account of the astonishing recent archaeological discoveries, as these have confirmed, modified, or overturned previous interpretations. Many of these new finds are included among the hundreds of reproductions. Each chapter begins with a concise historical introduction, providing a political and social context for artistic process and development. Within a chronological organization in which patterns of continuity and change are traced and interpreted, all mediums are discussed, with particular attention to those in which prevailing styles of each time and place have been expressed: sculpture and architecture in India and Southeast Asia, painting and ceramics in China and Korea, painting and decorative arts in Japan, and sculpture in religious art everywhere. The contributions of Korea and Central Asian cultures -- especially Nepal and Tibet -- have been given particular new attention. All this is accomplished with admirable clarity of arrangement and succinctness of presentation. A general bibliography lists all major works and periodicals in the field; it is followed by a specialized bibliography for each chapter; all have been expanded and updated. Chronologies, maps, and a pronunciation guide for the Indian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (pinyin and Wade-Giles) names and terms assist the beginning student, and these too have been revised and made current. The detailed index, which provides ready access to specific information, cites all Chinese names and terms in both pinyin and Wade-Giles spellings. Together, text, illustrations, and appendices make A History of Far Eastern Art a uniquely integrated general introduction to its field, as well as a basic reference work for advanced scholars." - Publisher. CONTENTS: PART ONE: EARLY CULTURE AND ART: THE STONE AGE, THE BRONZE AGE, AND THE EARLY IRON AGE; 1. Urban civilization and the Indus valley; neolithic and pre-Shang China; Ban Chieng culture; 2. Chinese art from the Shang through the middle Zhou period-map of China and Korea; 3. The late Zhou period; 4. The growth and expansion of early Chinese culture through the Han dynasty; Korea and Japan; PART TWO: THE INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE OF BUDDHIST ART; 5. Early art in India-map of India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka; 6. The international Gupta style; 7. The expansion of Buddhist art to east Asia; PART THREE: THE RISE OF NATIONAL INDIAN AND INDONESIAN STYLES; 8. Early Hindu art in India; 9. Early medieval Hindu art in south and central India; 10. Later medieval Hindu art; 11. The medieval art of southeast Asia and Indonesia; PART FOUR: CHINESE, KOREAN, AND JAPANESE NATIONAL STYLES AND THEIR INTERPLAY; 12. The rise of the arts of painting and ceramics in China; 13. The beginnings of developed Japanese art styles; 14. Chinese art of the Song dynasty and Korean ceramics of Koryo; 15. Japanese art of the Kamakura period; 16. Japanese art of the Muromachi period; 17. Later Chinese art: the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties; 18. Later Japanese art : the Momoyama and Edo periods.. 5th. Hardcover. Fine/Very Good. 4to.