This innovative book narrates the history of a single object--a tea-leaf storage jar created in southern China during the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries--and describes how its role changed after it was imported to Japan and passed from owner to owner there. In Japan, where the jar was in constant use for more than seven hundred years, it was transformed from a humble vessel into a celebrated object used in chanoyu (often translated in English as tea ceremony), renowned for its aesthetic and functional qualities, and awarded the name Chigusa.

Few extant tea utensils possess the quantity and quality of the accessories associated with Chigusa, material that enables modern scholars and tea aficionados to trace the jar U s evolving history of ownership and appreciation. Tea diaries indicate that the lavish accessories--the silk net bag, cover, and cords--that still accompany the jar were prepared in the early sixteenth century by its first recorded owner.

Louise Allison Cort is curator of ceramics, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. She received the 2012 Secretary U s Distinguished Research Lecture Award, Smithsonian Institution, and the 2012 Koyama Fujio Memorial Prize for her research on historical Japanese ceramics. Andrew M. Watsky is professor of Japanese art at Princeton University. His book, "Chikubushima: Deploying the Sacred Arts in Momoyama Japan," received the John Whitney Hall Book Prize (Association for Asian Studies) and the Shimada Prize (Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution)."

This book is an ethnographic study of the travelling art exhibition Indian Highway that presented Indian contemporary art in Europe and China between 2008 and 2012, a significant period for the art world that saw the rise and fall of the national exhibition format. It analyses art exhibition as a mobile "object" and promotes the idea of art as a transcultural product by using participant observation, in-depth interviews, and multi-media studies as research method. This work encompasses voices of curators, artists, audiences, and art critics spread over different cities, sites, and art institutions to bridge the distance between Europe and India based on vignettes along the Indian Highway. The discussion in the book focuses on power relations, the contested politics of representation, and dissonances and processes of negotiation in the field of global art. It also argues for rethinking analytical categories in anthropology to identify the social role of contemporary art practices in different cultural contexts and also examines urban art and the way national or cultural values are reinterpreted in response to ideas of difference and pluralism. Rich in empirical data, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers of modern and contemporary art, Indian art, art and visual culture, anthropology, art history, mobility, and transcultural studies.

Exploring the history of art in China from its earliest incarnations to the present day, this comprehensive volume includes two dozen newly-commissioned essays spanning the theories, genres, and media central to Chinese art and theory throughout its history. * Provides an exceptional collection of essays promoting a comparative understanding of China s long record of cultural production * Brings together an international team of scholars from East and West, whose contributions range from an overview of pre-modern theory, to those exploring calligraphy, fine painting, sculpture, accessories, and more * Articulates the direction in which the field of Chinese art history is moving, as well as providing a roadmap for historians interested in comparative study or theory * Proposes new and revisionist interpretations of the literati tradition, which has long been an important staple of Chinese art history * Offers a rich insight into China s social and political institutions, religious and cultural practices, and intellectual traditions, alongside Chinese art history, theory, and criticism

New, information-packed introduction and extensive captions accompany more than 120 full-page plates of magnificent, elaborately carved, museum-quality masks worn by actors playing gods, warriors, beautiful women, feudal lords, and supernatural beings. A unique introduction to classic Japanese theater for westerners and an excellent reference for students, scholars, and enthusiasts of No drama. Captions.

Painting Stories explores the accomplishments, struggles, and livelihoods of traditional artisans in Raghurajpur, a village known for its patta chitra painters. In this collection, Helle Bundgaard weaves thirty years of observations and experiences into a tapestry of stories, which together present a poignant image of the lives of Indian craft makers and their personal connections to the art that they create. The painters' stories are situated in a rich cultural environment and steeped in social relations. For them, painting is more than a livelihood or an aesthetic expression - it is a way of life. Painting Stories is a window into a part of our world rarely seen, reminding us of both our rich diversity and our shared humanity. Written with the painters, students, and laypersons in mind, the book includes a discussion of ethnographic storytelling and resources for ethnographic writing, as well as color photographs that bring the stories to life.

Offering a concise introduction of the invention and development of Chinese characters the book teases out the glyphic characteristics and rules for creating different calligraphic styles; visualizes the glyphic evolution of 132 commonly used characters and analyses a selection of over 60 outstanding type designs of renowned designers. It will enable designers to maximize the expression value of Chinese characters in visuals! Recent years have witnessed a Chinese character design boom, with influential activities popping up one after another across Asia. Institutions such as The Central Academy of Fine Arts, Just Fonts, 3type, Mojijuku have launched courses for Chinese character design. Meanwhile, various exhibitions, lectures, seminars, and competitions, online or offline, are popular with young designers. The innovative use of Chinese characters as main visual elements in design, such as brand identity, logos, books, and posters, enjoys growing trend globally. On the other hand, the cultural uniqueness of Chinese characters demands a sound understanding of its history from designers.

Here is a truly "national gallery" of roadside folk art, seen along thousands of miles of country byways. bill and Sarah Thornbrook guide readers over Rural Free Delivery (R.F.D.) mail routes through 48 states to discover hundreds of unique and colorful letter boxes. An informative history of the R.F.D. service, a message from the current Postmaster General, and more than 450 charming full-color photographs present this sample of the humor, originality, artistry, and personal spirit that find expression in this cornucopia of small art treasures crafted by everyday Americans. The mailboxes are organized into groups representing patriotic and regional themes. Usually seen and enjoyed mainly by local letter carriers and neighbors, these folk creations have a universal appeal that is sure to delight, captivate and inspire all.

Xu Beihong: Pioneer of Modern Chinese Painting accompanies the first comprehensive exhibition of artwork by Xu Beihong hown outside Asia. It highlights a selection of 61 Chinese ink paintings, oil paintings, drawings, and pastels from the Xu Beihong Memorial Museum in Beijing. Xu Beihong (1895-1953) was among the first Chinese artists to study Western-style painting in Europe, and he is often called the "Father of Modern Chinese Painting." His images, particularly of horses, are familiar throughout China, as are his monumental history paintings Tian Heng and His Five Hundred Warriors and The Foolish Man Who Removed the Mountains. Photographs of Xu Beihong illustrate his life as an artist, educator, and family man.

An internationally acclaimed expert explains why Chinese-style architecture has remained so consistent for two thousand years, no matter where it is built. For the last two millennia, an overwhelming number of Chinese buildings have been elevated on platforms, supported by pillars, and covered by ceramic-tile roofs. Less obvious features, like the brackets connecting the pillars to roof frames, also have been remarkably constant. What makes the shared features more significant, however, is that they are present in Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian, and Islamic milieus; residential, funerary, and garden structures; in Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and elsewhere. How did Chinese-style architecture maintain such standardization for so long, even beyond China's borders? Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt examines the essential features of Chinese architecture and its global transmission and translation from the predynastic age to the eighteenth century. Across myriad political, social, and cultural contexts within China and throughout East Asia, certain design and construction principles endured. Builders never abandoned perishable wood in favor of more permanent building materials, even though Chinese engineers knew how to make brick and stone structures in the last millennium BCE. Chinese architecture the world over is also distinctive in that it was invariably accomplished by anonymous craftsmen. And Chinese buildings held consistently to the plan of the four-sided enclosure, which both afforded privacy and differentiated sacred interior space from an exterior understood as the sphere of profane activity. Finally, Chinese-style buildings have always and everywhere been organized along straight lines. Taking note of these and other fascinating uniformities, The Borders of Chinese Architecture offers an accessible and authoritative overview of a tradition studiously preserved across time and space.

Historians have claimed that when social stability returned to Korea after devastating invasions by the Japanese and Manchus around the turn of the seventeenth century, the late Choson dynasty was a period of unprecedented economic and cultural renaissance, in which prosperity manifested itself in new programs and styles of visual art. A New Middle Kingdom questions this belief, claiming instead that true-view landscape and genre paintings were likely adopted to propagandize social harmony under Choson rule and to justify the status, wealth, and land grabs of the ruling class. This book also documents the popularity of art books from China and their misunderstanding by Koreans and, most controversially, Korean enthusiasm for artistic programs from Edo Japan, thus challenging academic stereotypes and nationalistic tendencies in the scholarship about the Choson period. As the first truly interdisciplinary study of Korean art, A New Middle Kingdom points to realities of late Choson society that its visual art seemed to hide and deny. A William Sangki and Nanhee Min Hahn Book

This practical and supremely useful manual is the first comprehensive, hands-on introduction to Japanese ceramics. The Japanese ceramics tradition is without compare in its technical and stylistic diversity, its expressive content, and the level of appreciation it enjoys, both in Japan and around the world. "Inside Japanese Ceramics "focuses on tools, materials, and procedures, and how all of these have influenced the way traditional Japanese ceramics look and feel. A true primer, it concentrates on the basics: setting up a workshop, pot-forming techniques, decoration, glazes, and kilns and firing. It introduces the major methods and styles that are taught in most Japanese workshops, including several representative and well-known wares: Bizen, Mino, Karatsu, Hagi, and Kyoto.
While presenting the time-tested techniques of the tradition, author Richard L. Wilson also accommodates modern technologies and materials as appropriate. Wilson has gathered a wealth of information on two fronts--as a researcher of Japanese pottery and art history, and as a potter who has studied and worked for years with master Japanese potters. In his introduction, he provides a short history of Japanese ceramics, and in closing he looks beyond traditional methods toward ways in which Western potters can make Japanese methods their own. Richly illustrated with 24 color plates, over 100 black-and-white photographs, and over 70 instructive line-drawings, "Inside Japanese Ceramics "is indispensable for potters as well as connoisseurs and collectors of Japanese ceramics. Above all, it is an invitation to participate--to study, make, touch, and use the exquisite products of the Japanese ceramic tradition.

A remarkable group of seven bronze figures was unearthed in Kampong Cham province, Cambodia, in 2006. These sixth- and seventh-century Buddhist sculptures, two of which were Chinese, ultimately were acquired by the National Museum of Cambodia. There they became one of the first projects of the institution's Metal Conservation Laboratory, created with the assistance of the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

"Gods of Angkor" celebrates not only the collaborative efforts of the Cambodian and U.S. museums to restore and interpret these important images, but also the accomplishments of Khmer bronze casters from the fourth century BCE to the fourteenth century CE. The authors decipher the makeup and meaning of bronze figural images, ritual vessels, and other objects, placing them in the context of Southeast Asian life and worship from prehistoric times through the pre-Angkorian and Angkorian eras. Together, the bronzes reveal vivid details of the significance of this important medium within Khmer culture and of the artistic and religious interactions of the Khmer with their neighbors.

Louise Allison Cort is curator of ceramics and Paul Jett is head of the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research, both at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C. Other contributors include Ian C. Glover, John Guy, and Hiram Woodward Jr.

Featuring over 450 archival photographs and line drawings, Chinese Dress traces the evolution of Chinese clothing from court and formal costumes to the everyday fashions of twenty-first century China. Author Valery Garrett skillfully weaves the story of Chinese dress in all its variations--elaborately embroidered robes, military uniforms, children's dress, wedding and funeral attire, working clothes, Mao-inspired fashion--against a backdrop of historical, cultural and social change. A comprehensive and sumptuously illustrated book, this book includes images of garments and accessories from museum and private collections, as well as unpublished or little-known archival photos and printed materials. Chapters include: Dress of the Qing Manchu Rulers 1644-1911 Dress of the Manchu Consorts 1644-1911 Attire of Mandarins and Merchants Attire of Chinese Women Republican Dress 1912-1949 Clothing of the Lower Classes Clothing for Children Dress in New China 1950-Present Day For both modern fashion inspiration and accurate historical representation, Chinese Dress is the essential reference for costume historians, fashion designers and collectors, as well as lovers of beautiful clothes!

The use of pictures to communicate a story has a long tradition in Japanese culture that dates back more than a thousand years. Such narrative illustrations draw on Buddhist texts, classic literature, poetry, and theatrical scenes to create rich visual imagery realised in a wide range of media and format. Quotations from and allusions to heroic epics and romances were disseminated through exquisite paintings, woodblock prints, and in pieces of applied arts such as lacquer ware or ceramics, thus becoming anchored in the collective consciousness. As story-telling art found expression in a variety of materialities, it became an integral part of daily life. A fascinating narrative space evolved that combined artistic excellence and aesthetic pleasure. Love, Fight, Feast features some one hundred paintings, woodblock prints, illustrated woodblock-printed books, as well as lacquer and metal objects, porcelain, and textiles from the 13th to the 20th century, alongside scholarly essays on a range of aspects of Japanese narrative art. Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the renowned Museum Rietberg in Zurich, the book offers a unique survey of the multifaceted, colourful, and imaginative world of Japanese narrative art across eight centuries.

The goddess Guanyin began in India as the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, originally a male deity. He gradually became indigenized as a female deity in China over the span of nearly a millennium. By the Ming (1358-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) periods, Guanyin had become the most popular female deity in China. In Becoming Guanyin, Yuhang Li examines how lay Buddhist women in late imperial China forged a connection with the subject of their devotion, arguing that women used their own bodies to echo that of Guanyin. Li focuses on the power of material things to enable women to access religious experience and transcendence. In particular, she examines how secular Buddhist women expressed mimetic devotion and pursued religious salvation through creative depictions of Guanyin in different media such as painting and embroidery and through bodily portrayals of the deity using jewelry and dance. These material displays expressed a worldview that differed from yet fit within the Confucian patriarchal system. Attending to the fabrication and use of "women's things" by secular women, Li offers new insight into the relationships between worshipped and worshipper in Buddhist practice. Combining empirical research with theoretical insights from both art history and Buddhist studies, Becoming Guanyin is a field-changing analysis that reveals the interplay between material culture, religion, and their gendered transformations.