Unearthing China's Past. This item is unavailable.Unearthing China's Past

Written by Jan Fontein and Tung Wu and published in hardback in 1973 by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 'Unearthing China's Past' is a response to the increasing public interest in Chinese archaeology stimulated by the news of the spectacular recent [pre-1973] discoveries in the People's Republic of China. It makes a first and modest effort to explain some of the recent gains in knowledge of Chinese archaeology by visual means. The authors survey approximately three thousand years of Chinese cultural history, from the early Shang dynasty (1766-1122BC) to the Ch'ing dynasty (A.D.1644-1912), exploring some of the most important results of the excavations carried out by Chinese archaeologists during the past twenty-three years. To reveal how much light these controlled excavations throw on Chinese relics in Western collections, the book illustrates objects that have come to the West during the first half of this century with similar objects excavated in China since 1950. Included are examples of sculpture, painting, calligraphy, and the decorative arts. However, as a rule, the objects in this exhibition arrived on the Western art market with little or no indication of provenance, date, or function; and the context they were found in remains obscure and archaeologists have had to turn to similar objects for help with this. Contents: Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Chronology; Catalogue; Shang Bronzes (cat.1-10); Chou Bronzes (cat.11-18); Late Chou Ceramics (cat.19-20); The Arts of Ch'U (cat.21-35); Bronze Weapons (cat.36-39); The Arts of Han (cat.40-51); Vessels from the South (cat.52-57); Early Green Stoneware (cat.58-67); Six Dynasties Bronzes (cat.68-69); Six Dynasties Ceramics (cat.70-71); Sculpture (cat.72-75); The Tomb of Li Ching-Hsun (cat.76-82); T'Ang Figurines (cat.83-89); The Hoard of Ho-Chia-Ts'Un (cat.90-96); The Arts of the North (cat.97-103); The Arts of Yuan and Ming (cat.104-112); Painting and Calligraphy (cat.113-122); Bibliography; Lenders