Customer Reviews

Chinese Domestic Furniture in Photographs and Measured Drawings (Dover Books on Furniture)

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Very few books on furniture - Chinese or otherwise - do as successful a job. Not only is the history discussed and the pages well illustrated (in black and white), but timeless scholarly discourse is offered and revealing disective drawings provided. This is a must and you will see how the author has laid the foundation for more recent works on the subject since it has become vogue.

This book is worth the money. I was looking for book on Chinese furniture as a resource for woodworking. This book is a Dover reprint of a limited edition by Gustav Ecke in 1944. Inside are about 160 plates most of which are black and white pictures, though some are drawings. I believe one will get a good overview from the plates. I found the text a little less informative than the plates but pictures are what I was looking for.

gustav ecke/s book gives excellent photos of a wide range of chinese furniture. Some of the illustatrations of the joiney were not as clear as we would like, but nonetheless it is a commendable effort in bringing to the forefront the wonderful harmony, symmetry, and proportion of chinese furniture. I used this book as a reference to view some excellent examples of chinese furniture at the nelson atkins museum kansas city mo.The book lacked any details of tools and techiques. I am guessing that the reason for that is the author is an academic not a craftsman

This book by Gustav Ecke is the only book that I know of that surveys Chinese period furniture and inlcudes drafted scale drawings. Although first published in 1944 this fantastic book is a valuable resource for the furniture maker or historian with a keen interest in period Chinese furniture. There are better books on chinese furniture but none with scale drawings,it's a one of a kind.

I was amazed by the furniture in this book. The drawings illustrate a level of craftsmanship that is stunning and humbling to a western wood-worker. The joinery is something to be aspired to and was inspiring to me.

Good book but it would have been nice to have more detail about the joinery and construction basics of Chinese furniture.

Still it's a nice one...

I bought a hardback copy of this book about 25 years ago in Hong Kong, and then it cost me over £50, so this is a bargain.

Since then I have acquired several more books on the subject & although it is not in colour this one stands out for the selection of pieces and detailed drawings of both the joinery and items of furniture. I was previously a woodwork teacher and now import Chinese furniture to the uk, and what is not apparent when looking at a finished piece is the sophistication of the joinery and how well developed the understanding of wood structures by the Chinese craftsmen was at the time. When you have a good look at a modern piece of Chinese rosewood furniture very little has changed over the centuries, it is still dependant on good craftsmanship rather than modern furniture production techniques.

Excellent book.

It is a great book. I like it very much ,because I am from China!
Good service!