Synopses & Reviews
Despite their powerful presence and exquisite quality, Chinese ancestor portraits have never been studied as a genre. This richly illustrated book (85 portraits in full color, 81 in black and white) is the first to explore the artistic, historical, and religious significance of these paintings and to place them in context with other types of commemorative portraiture. During the late Ming (1368-1644) and Quing (1644-1911) dynasties, full-length portraits of individual men and women came into vogue. These ancestor portraits were important objects of veneration, and the practice continued into the twentieth century, when paintings were gradually replaced by photographs. The authors explore the works in depth, presenting a fascinating glimpse of Chinese life and culture and providing biographies of the sitters. Worshiping the Ancestors will appeal to connoisseurs of Chinese art and to all those interested in social history, portraiture, and devotional art.
Synopsis
This richly illustrated book offers a fascinating study of Chinese life and culture through the genre of commemorative portraits.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-209) and index.
About the Author
Jan Stuart is Associate Curator of Chinese Art at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. She is coauthor with Louise Allison Cort of Joined Colors: Decoration and Meaning in Chinese Porcelain and a contributor to Worlds Within Worlds: The Richard Rosenblum Collection of Chinese Scholars' Rocks, edited by Robert Mowry. Evelyn S. Rawski is University Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions.
Table of Contents
Foreword Milo Cleveland Beach; Acknowledgments; Introduction Jan Stuart; 1. Portraiture and ancestor rituals; 2. Visual conventions; 3. Realism and the Iconic pose; 4. Nomenclature, production, and documentary value; 5. Portrait at the Quing Court; 6. The identity of the sitters; 7. Innovation within tradition; Notes; Appendices; Bibliography; Glossary; Index.