Chinese ceramics are among the most significant and widely collected decorative arts produced anywhere in the world, with a history that spans millennia. Despite the saturation of Chinese ceramics in global culture-in English, the word "china" has become synonymous with "porcelain"-the function of these works and the meaning of their often richly decorated surfaces are not always readily apparent. This new installment in the successful How to Read series enlightens readers on Chinese ceramics of all kinds, using highlights from the outstanding collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a teaching tool. Accessible to a general audience and written by an expert on the subject, this book explains and interprets 40 masterworks of Chinese ceramics. The works represent a broad range of subject matter and type, from ancient earthenware to 20th-century porcelain, and from plates and bowls to vases and sculptural figures. Lavish illustrations showcase these stunning works and the decorations that adorn them, including symbolic scenes, flowers, and Buddhist and Chinese historical figures. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press

As its teachings spread from the Indian subcontinent in all directions across Asia, Buddhism influenced every culture it touched--from Afghanistan to Korea, from Mongolia to Java. Buddhist art is a radiant reflection of the encounter of the Buddha's teachings with the diverse civilizations that came under their sway. It is also an intriguing visual record of the evolution of Buddhist practice and philosophy over a period of more than two millennia.
More than two hundred photographs provide the visual context for this tour of the world of Buddhist art. Included in the rich variety of forms are architecture and monumental art, statuary, paintings, calligraphy, fresco, brushwork, and textile arts. Denise Leidy's guide is the perfect introductory text for all those intrigued by this splendid aesthetic tradition. It also an essential resource for all who seek to understand Buddhist art as teaching.

The Metropolitan Museum Journal, issued annually by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, published original research on works in the Museum's collections and the areas of investigation they represent. Volume 48 includes essays on the retribution of the early south Italian "New York Goose Vase," the coat of arms in Fra Filippo Lippi's Portrait of a Woman and a Man at a Casement, drawings of the pantheon in the Metropolitan Museum's Goldschmidt scrapbook, sin and redemption in the Hours of Francois I (1539-40) by the Master of Francois de Rohan, and Houdon's Bather in a Drawing by Pierre Antoine Mongin.