Possessing the Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei [Hardcover]

Wen Fong (Author), James C. Y. Watt (Author), Guo Li Gu Gong Bo Wu Yuan (Corporate Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1996

Emperor Ch'ien-lung, who ruled China from 1736 to 1795, amassed an extensive collection of Chinese art which today forms the core of the holdings of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Drawing on this rich resource, this work provides a history of imperial Chinese art and culture from the Neolithic period to 18th century. It reproduces some of the great monuments of Chinese culture: key works by leading calligraphers of the T'ang dynasty, life-size imperial portraits from the Sung to the Ming period, and some of the finest examples of imperial ceramics, textiles and other decorative arts from the Sung to the Ch'ing dynasty. The authors also offers a cultural and historical context for the art, focusing on both the evolution of Chinese civilization and the cultural dynamics of the country's history. The book accompanies a major exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, New York (from March 1996), and subsequently in Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, DC.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

More than an exhibition catalogue, this breathtakingly beautiful volume, a major work of scholarship, offers a panoramic history of Chinese art and culture. Its 436 color plates and 190 halftones reproduce hundreds of masterpieces from the Chinese Palace Museum in Taiwan?artworks that originally constituted the personal collection of 18th-century Emperor Ch'ien-lung, and were transported out of communist China to Taipei after WWII. Among the treasures are eighth-century calligraphic brush masterpieces, monumental landscape hanging scrolls of the Northern Sung (10th-11th centuries), elegant porcelain, naturalistic flower, bird and animal paintings, and life-size, robust imperial portraits. Essays by Chinese and Western art historians sweep from the Neolithic Age's magical and religious uses of jade (third millennium B.C.) to Bronze Age rituals, the paradoxical rejuvenation of art under the Mongol conquest, Buddhist and Taoist influences, Ming scholar-artists' revolt against orthodoxy and 17th-century Ch'ing emperors' use of the arts as tools for glorification of the state. The exhibition opened at New York's Metropolitan Museum and will tour nationally. Fong and Watt are curators at the Met.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA. An excellent resource for in-depth information on Chinese art. The authors provide introductory essays that give a clear background of Chinese dynastic history, the history of the Museum, and the history of the works of art. By presenting cross-cultural references, they give Western readers a wider understanding of cultural developments. For example, the authors present both the poetry and calligraphy of Su Shih, interpreting his work in terms of the context of his life. By understanding the world of the artist, students gain a knowledge of the importance of culture in the artist's life. Readers can trace the evolution of the styles through the chronological arrangement. Although this is an academic text, the vocabulary and writing style can be understood by high school students. Superb-quality full-color plates and black-and-white figures that directly relate to the narration appear throughout. An outstanding reference.?Donna Head, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 648 pages
• Publisher: Harry N Abrams; First Edition edition (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810964945
• ISBN-13: 978-0810964945
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.5 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,066,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A collection of excellent articles, August 21, 1997

By 

Tzu-Hsien Sang [e-mail] (Ann Arbor) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Possessing the Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei (Hardcover)

This book was published not only as a catalogue for the great exhibition "Splendors of Imperial China", also as a collection of excellent articles by leading scholars in the field of Chinese art and cultural history. Some of the most precious items selected for the exhibition eventually were not able to make it to the United States, nontheless they are included in the book(now you get a chance to see them on the paper.) The authors cleverly extended a study of visual artifacts to a colorful (though not complete) portraiture of the cultural evolution in China. This task is not easy, considering the fact that the imperial collection on which the National Palace Museum is based on was, for a large part, a reflection of the personal taste of the Ch'ien-lung emperor. For example, you will not find any significant piece of sculpture or wood-block prints in this book. On the other hand, the selection of paintings and ceramics (especially the Ju wares) are just superb. The only problem is its size, which prevents you bringing it around to show off the beatiful pictures in it. Still, it is a must-have reference for any serious readers who want to know more about Chinese visual culture

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All you want to see in Chinese Art, November 2, 2006

By 

Antaeuscass (Adelaide, Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Possessing the Past Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei (Hardcover)

The National Museum of Art in Taipei is the repository of the finest Chinese art in the world. Taken out of China by the Nationalists, the art was fortunate to be out of the hands of the Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution, when most of the important art on the maniland was destroyed or defaced.

For people wanting to see the great forms of Chinese art, this book is almost as good as going to Taiwan.

No wonder the chinese want the island back - olny for the art.