Pastimes is the first book in English on Chinese jinshi, or
antiquarianism, the pinnacle of traditional connoisseurship of
ancient artifacts and inscriptions. As a scholarly field, jinshi
was inaugurated in the Northern Song (960-1127) and remained
popular until the early twentieth century. Literally the study of
inscriptions on bronze vessels and stone steles, jinshi combined
calligraphy and painting, the collection of artifacts, and
philological and historical research. For aficionados of Chinese
art, the practices of jinshi offer a fascinating glimpse into the
lives of traditional Chinese scholars and artists, who spent their
days roaming the sometimes seamy world of the commercial art market
before attending elegant antiquarian parties, where they composed
poetic tributes to their ancient objects of obsession. And during
times of political upheaval, such as the nineteenth century, the
art and artifact studies of jinshi legitimatized reform and
contributed to a dynamic and progressive field of learning.
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