Art in China

China boasts a history of art stretching over 5,000 years and embracing a vast array of forms--objects of jade, lacquer and porcelain, painted scrolls and fans, sculptures in stone, bronze and wood, and murals. With more than 130 halftone illustrations, including almost eighty in full color, this new edition of Art in China presents the finest one-volume introduction to all forms of Chinese art. The book examines Chinese art in a variety of contexts--as it has been designed for tombs, commissioned by rulers, displayed in temples, created by the men and women of the educated elite, and bought and sold in the marketplace. Drawing on recent innovative scholarship--and newly accessible studies in China itself--Craig Clunas surveys the full spectrum of the visual arts. This updated edition contains expanded coverage of modern and contemporary art, from the fall of the empire in 1911 to the contemporary video art scene.

Craig Clunas has worked as a curator of Chinese art at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and taught at Sussex University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. He was appointed Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford in 2007, where he is the first holder of the chair to specialise in art from Asia.