Despite its beauty, individuality and variety of design, the red or brown unglazed stoneware produced at Yixing in Jiangsu Province has received less attention than other branches of Chinese ceramic art. The Yixing potters have always specialized in the making of teapots, whose use became widespread during the Ming period as a result of the innovation of making tea from rolled leaves, rather than using it in the fine-ground, powdered from in which it had previously been supplied.
In On Their Own Terms, Benjamin A. Elman offers a much-needed synthesis of early Chinese science during the Jesuit period (1600-1800) and the modern sciences as they evolved in China under Protestant influence (1840s-1900). By 1600 Europe was ahead of Asia in producing basic machines, such as clocks, levers, and pulleys, that would be necessary for the mechanization of agriculture and industry. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Elman shows, Europeans still sought from the Chinese their secrets of producing silk, fine textiles, and porcelain, as well as large-scale tea cultivation. Chinese literati borrowed in turn new algebraic notations of Hindu-Arabic origin, Tychonic cosmology, Euclidian geometry, and various computational advances. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, imperial reformers, early Republicans, Guomindang party cadres, and Chinese Communists have all prioritized science and technology. In this book, Elman gives a nuanced account of the ways in which native Chinese science evolved over four centuries, under the influence of both Jesuit and Protestant missionaries. In the end, he argues, the Chinese produced modern science on their own terms.
In 1933, the demolition of the thriving Los Angeles Chinatown for the construction of Union Station sealed the remains of this intact community 14 feet below the railroad tracks. The planning and construction of the Metro Rail subway system five decades later included efforts to preserve and protect cultural resources in the area, detailed in this volume. The assemblage of excavated material objects reflects the import, preparation, and service of food; recreation; health practices; the presence of women and children, rubbish disposal practices; and degree of participation in local social networks. The unprecedented numbers and densities of artifacts illuminate aspects of lifeways not previously recorded, revealing a rich picture of people and life in nineteenth and early twentieth century Los Angeles. Intensive historical research, oral history, and laboratory analyses have been synthesized into a comprehensive reconstruction of a community that was isolated socially, economically, and geographically.
The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts covers thousands of years of decorative arts production throughout western and non-western culture. With over 1,000 entries, as well as hundreds drawn from the 34-volume Dictionary of Art, this topical collection is a valuable resource for those interested in the history, practice, and mechanics of the decorative arts. Accompanied by almost 100 color and more than 500 black and white illustrations, the 1,290 pages of this title include hundreds of entries on artists and craftsmen, the qualities and historic uses of materials, as well as concise definitions on art forms and style. Explore the works of Alvar Aalto, Charles and Ray Eames, and the Wiener Wekstatte, or delve into the history of Navajo blankets and wing chairs in thousands of entries on artists, craftsmen, designers, workshops, and decorative art forms.
The Chinese decorating art, in myriad media—bronze, ceramics, silk, embroidery, lacquer, jade, enamel, gold, and silver—and of carving and sculpture, is an ageless tradition of exquisite craftsmanship. Its evolution since ancient times was driven not only by the expanding use of materials available, but advances in technology. The understated elegance of Chinese aesthetics in arts and crafts, both functional and decorative, has in many ways influenced the development of the Chinese cultural identity, becoming emblematic of Chinese civilization in its worldwide dispersion. This concise history, complete and lucidly accessible, captures this millennia-old tradition, from the Neolithic Age to the late Qing when the last imperial reign unraveled, and the rise and evolution of its various forms, tracing the chronology of Chinese dynasties. Well researched and richly illustrated with more than 200 artefacts, it offers a fascinating journey through the evolution of Chinese aesthetics in the context of changing societies, reflecting the underlying qualities of the Chinese mind and a cultural heritage that endured uninterruptedly through millennia.
