Rawson Jessica. Ancient China. Art and Archaeology

New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1980. — 240 p. — ISBN: 0-06-438435-7.This well-written and knowledgeable survey with 200 black and white illustrations and 12 color plates traces the development of early Chinese art in its historical context. The period covered is from the Neolithic c. 5000 B.C. to the Han dynasty 206 B.C. to 220 A. D.
Illustrating her study with major pieces from the outstanding Chinese collections of the British Museum, Jessica Rawson also draws on literary and historical texts as diverse as Oracle bones and the philosophical writings of the Confucians, and on important post-war excavations in China itself.
In the light of this varied evidence, Mrs. Rawson provides fresh insights into the art, technology, and social organization that went into the making of many great masterpieces of ceramic, bronze, and jade, and at the same time shows what kind of information about ancient China can be provided by its artifacts.
There are five major periods which are covered in separate chapters—the Neolithic, the Shang dynasty, the Western Chou period, the Eastern Chou period and the Han dynasty. By the close of the Han dynasty the most important elements of Chinese culture had appeared: the unified empire, the bureaucratic hierarchy and the language with its ideographic script. In the arts the Chinese had developed a unique architectural style, a unique form of bronze-casting and methods of exploiting or working jade, silk, lacquer and highfired ceramics.
Jessica Rawson's lucid analysis of stylistic developments make this an invaluable introduction to 4000 years of China's cultural history.Jessica Rawson is Deputy Keeper of the department of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum. Her particular interests are early Chinese bronzes and jade, and she has written a number of articles for Oriental Art, The Connoisseur and Apollo. She is the author of Animals in Art and coauthor of Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages.