Sato, Masahiko — Chinese Ceramics: A Short History

Book Good Dust Jacket Included 1st Edition John Weatherhill, Inc., New York and Heibonsha, Tokyo English text; Hardcover (with dust jacket); 16 x 23.5 cm; 0.8 kg; 256 pages with black and white illustrations and a few in colour ; Used with signs of on the exterior and interior. That dust jackets shows edge wear and scuffs and scratches on the front cover, spine and back cover. Signs of a price sticker removed at the rear of the dust jacket, which has also a small chip. Wear mark on the front free endpaper. The remaining interior is in very good condition with minor signs of wear.;Originally published in Japanese by Heibonsha, Tokyo, under the title Chugoku tõjishi (History of Chinese Ceramics), 1978. Translated into English and adapted by Kiyoko Hanaoka and Susan Barberi.; While it took the West until the eighteenth century to develop sophisticated, high-fired glazed ware, this technique had been perfected in China as early as the second millennium B.C. How and why the Chinese achieved such a high level in their ceramics tradition at an early date, and continued to produce high-quality work with inventive vigor for over three thousand years to the extent that the word china has become synonymous with ceramics itself is a question that has fascinated the world. This volume presents a comprehensive and up-to-date history of the brilliant Chinese ceramics tradition, beginning with primitive neolithic earthenwares and tracing the development through Tang three-color ware to the unsurpassed blue-and-white and enameled porcelains of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Both an invaluable handbook for the collector of these magnificent ceramics and a concise but highly informative text for the student, this history of Chinese ceramics is illustrated with a wealth of representative pieces. The incomparable beauty and ingenuity of Chinese ceramics have inspired numerous studies over the years, but with few exceptions these books and monographs are limited to a single ware or period. This has caused inconvenience to collector and student alike.Here at last is a complete introduction to Chinese ceramics that traces the history of each ware from the standpoint of both time and place. The text is supplemented by a detailed time chart and a map of kiln sites. Instead of dealing with any particular ware in isolation, therefore, it is possible to examine the development of, for example, porcelain, from white stoneware and porcelaneous wares. Furthermore, the author concentrates on the techniques and materials that characterize each ware: clay and glazing, potting, firing, and decorative methods. The findings from important excavations conducted in China since the 1950s have been incorporated into this volume, making it the most up-to-date information on the subject available today.