Drawing on the British Museum's extensive collection, this book explores the traditional hierarchy of materials and techniques reaching back as far as the Han Dynasty in the third century BC. In the history and character of the works under scrutiny, this sumptuously illustrated book conveys an understanding of Chinese art in all its great variety.

The Chinese art collection of the Lee Kong Chian Art Museum, National University of Singapore, is presented in this catalogue published to commemorate the Museum's official opening in August 1990. There are some 540 plates (350 in colour) giving prominent display to the collection, which has been organised into four main areas of Chinese art - Ceramics, Bronze, Archaic Jade, and Painting and Calligraphy. The ceramics section is the most extensive, covering some 6,000 years of Chinese history and representing a fairly complete cross-section of the various types of ceramic ware found through the millennia. Around 80 per cent of these pieces were acquired in the last six years, in the light of recent archaeological discoveries. Many of these are comparable to those found in famous collections the world over. There is also a brief introductory essay on each of the four sections.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.