Here are tricks for creating cutting-edge interior design from tile original style setter at New York's trendsetting ABC Carpet & Home. The recent issue of Metropolitan Home magazine featured a New York apartment furnished with beautiful finds scavenged from flea markets. America has developed a yen for the vintage. Whether covering an entire wall with a salon-style arrangement of pictures creating the "attic" look; throwing together a grand canopied bed faked with gilded molding and draperies to evoke thc "exotic"; or choosing to go "spare" by displaying carefully selected objects, including old tools, glass boxes, or botanical prints, style setter Rebecca Purcell shows how anyone can create expressive rooms that make a statement. Full-color photographs in each chapter show how these fabulous styles were produced in different homes. Chapters include do-it-yourself projects for finishing touches, including tassels, aging fabrics and metals, valances and draperies, wall washing and stenciling, picture matting, and more.

The Palace of Eternal Joy (Yongle gong) is a mammoth cult site dedicated to one of late imperial China’s most popular deities, Lu Dongbin. In one of the first book-length studies of a Chinese sacred site, Paul Katz focuses on the Palace’s role in the development of Lu's legend. This highly innovative approach takes into account the various "histories" of the Palace presented in different texts and surpasses previous scholarship by stressing the ways in which the site both reflected and produced cultural diversity. Katz breaks new ground by analyzing the texts in terms of the textuality--the processes by which they were produced, transmitted, and understood. The study begins with a detailed description of the Palace of Eternal Joy and a brief account of its history. The reader is then introduced to the cult of Lu Dongbin. Special consideration is given to various hagiographical traditions, particularly those that influenced the growth of his cult at Yongle. Throughout late imperial China, a growing number of worshipers (among them scholar-officials, Taoist priests, artisans, and dramatists) created an ever-burgeoning variety of images of Lu, ranging from a patron god of ink-makers and prostitutes to a member of that powerful yet rambunctious group of spirits known as the Eight Immortals. In this context, the author explores the Perfect Realization Taoist movement's adoption of Lu's cult during the Jin and Yuan dynasties and highlight the social and religious factors that led to Lu's immense popularity in north China during the late imperial era. Katz next looks at the four type of inscriptions found at the Palace (commemorative, official, hagiographical, and poetic) and identifies the Palace patrons who worshiped there and contributed to its growth. In the description and analysis of the Palace murals that follow, he divides these works into two types: those painted to provide a setting for, and even an object of, Taoist rituals performed at the Palace; and those used to instruct Perfect Realization Taoists and perhaps pilgrims. The final section traces the reception of the Palace texts among the people of Yongle and its environs. Here Katz examines the ways in which patrons tried to impose their representations of the Palace’s history and the cult of Lu Dongbin on other members of the community and assesses the extent to which these efforts succeeded. Images of the Immortal is richly informed by a wide reading in social, cultural, and literary theory as well as a thorough awareness of previous work in comparative and Chinese religion. Scholars of Taoism, Chinese popular religion, and art history will find it especially rewarding for its thought-provoking reinterpretation of an important religious figure and his cult.

For more than five centuries the shamanistic fox cult has attracted large portions of the Chinese population and appealed to a wide range of social classes. Deemed illicit by imperial rulers and clerics and officially banned by republican and communist leaders, the fox cult has managed to survive and flourish in individual homes and community shrines throughout northern China. In this new work, the first to examine the fox cult as a vibrant popular religion, Xiaofei Kang explores the manifold meanings of the fox spirit in Chinese society. Kang describes various cult practices, activities of worship, and the exorcising of fox spirits to reveal how the Chinese people constructed their cultural and social values outside the gaze of offical power and morality.

With one hundred essays from one hundred interior designers, spanning stylistic genres from classic to modern, on subjects as varied as "Collecting," "White," "Portals," and "Layering", this book highlights the knowledge, experience, expertise, insight, and work of established design legends, as well as members of the new guard, spanning over four decades of work. Unique in the quality of its contributors, this book will be a landmark publication in the field, helpful and inspirational for the home decorator, as well as students of design and design professionals. Poised to become the essential book on design, Interior Design Master Class collects the expertise and knowledge of the best interior designers working today. Opening Interior Design Master Class is like sitting down to the best dinner party you’ve ever attended. A classic in the making, the book features one hundred essays by America’s top designers—from established design legends to members of the new guard—that explore in detail the process of designing a home, from the fundamentals to the finishing touches. Grouped by theme, the subjects range from practical considerations (Bunny Williams on "Comfort," Etienne Coffinier and Ed Ku on "Floor Plans") and details (Victoria Hagan on "Light," Rose Tarlow on "Books") to inspiration (Jeffrey Bilhuber on "America" and Charlotte Moss on "Couture") and style (Kelly Wearstler on "Glamour," Thomas O’Brien on "Vintage Modern"). Each piece is paired with images of the designer’s work to illustrate the principles being discussed, annotated with informative captions.Unique in the quality of its contributors, this is a book that readers will refer to again and again for advice and inspiration, an invaluable resource for practical tips and thought-provoking design. Select Contributors and their Topics: Vicente Wolf on Teachers; Barry Dixon on Relationships; Barbara Barry on Awareness; Amanda Nisbet on Intuition; Madeline Stuart on Trends; Suzanne Tucker on Archaeology; Bobby McAlpine on Intimacy; Stephen Sills on Aspirations; Mark Cunningham on Symmetry; Richard Mishaan on Portals; Campion Platt on Proportion; Cindy Smith and Jane Schwab on Editing; Juan Montoya on Scale; Amy Lau on Commissions; Suzanne Kasler on Style; Thomas O’Brien on Vintage Modern; Alan Wanzenberg on Modernity; Alexa Hampton on Tradition; Kelly Wearstler on Glamour; Anthony Baratta on Exuberance; Tom Scheerer on Luxury; Suzanne Rheinstein on Nuance; Timothy Corrigan on Welcoming Spaces; Bunny Williams on Comfort; Miles Redd on Reinvention; Martyn Lawrence Bullard on Sex; Mario Buatta on Color; Darryl Carter on White; Alessandra Branca on Red; Alex Papachristidis on Layering; Victoria Hagan on Light; Thad Hayes on Quality; Kathryn Ireland on Textiles; Windsor Smith on Communication; Nancy Braithwaite on Collecting; Kathryn Scott on Patina; Timothy Whealon on Antiques; Rose Tarlow on Books; Thomas Jayne on Provenance; Emily Summers on Sourcing Furniture; Thomas Pheasant on Inspiration; Sandra Nunnerley on Jazz; Penny Drue Baird on Paris; Jeffrey Bilhuber on America; Robert Couturier on Fashion; Ann Pyne on Poetry; Alan Tanksley on Destinations; Charlotte Moss on Couture

The definitive guide to understanding Taoism—no matter your background or faith Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching is the second most translated book in the world, and the practice of religious Taoism is on the rise in China, where adherents currently number in the hundreds of millions. Yet there remains a remarkable lack of reliable information about Taoism for curious westerners. Taoism For Dummies provides comprehensive coverage of Taoism's origins in China's Chou Dynasty, its underlying quietist principles, its emergence as a major religion, various interpretation of its core texts, including both Eastern and Western interpretations, key Taoist concepts, and much more. It also provides a fascinating glimpse of Taoism in contemporary China. The ideal guide for readers interested in this influential religion, as well as those taking an introductory course on Taoism or Chinese Religion A valuable source of insight for those with an interest in modern Chinese culture and beliefs