Synopses & Reviews
The Metropolitan Museumand#8217;s collection of Chinese Buddhist and Daoist sculpture is the largest in the Western world. In this lavish, comprehensive volume, archaeological discoveries and scientific testing and analysis serve as the basis for a reassessment of 120 works ranging in date from the fourth to the twentieth century, many of them previously unpublished and all of them newly and beautifully photographed. An introductory essay provides an indispensable overview of Buddhist practices and iconographyand#8212;acquainting us with the panoply of past, present, and future Buddhas, bodhisattvas, monks and arhats, guardians and adepts, pilgrims and immortalsand#8212;and explores the fascinating dialogue between Indian and Chinese culture that underlies the transmission of Buddhism into China.
In addition to detailed individual discussions of fifty masterpiecesand#8212;a heterogeneous group including portable shrines carved in wood, elegant bronze icons, monumental stone representations, colorful glazed-ceramic figures, and moreand#8212;the catalogue presents a ground-breaking survey of the methods used in crafting the sculptures. A second introductory essay and several technical appendices address the question of how early Chinese bronzes, as opposed to those from Gandhara and other westerly regions, were cast; the construction methods used for wood sculptures in China, notably different from those used in Japan; the complex layers of color and gilding on works in all media and their possible significance; and the role of consecratory deposits in wood and metal sculptures. A final appendix publishes the results of an intensive study of the wood material in the collection, classifying every sculpture by the genus of its wood and including a section of photomicrographs of each wood sampleand#8212;an invaluable resource for researchers continuing to study works of this genre.
As illuminating for new enthusiasts of Chinese Buddhist art as for scholars and connoisseurs, Wisdom Embodied is a glorious tour of the Metropolitanand#8217;s unparalleled collection, certain to earn its place as a classic in the field.
Review
and#8220;For anyone interested in the Buddha and his teachings, Wisdom Embodied is a stunning book and if I were not a practicing Buddhist myself, it may well have brought about my conversion.and#8221; and#8212;Birmingham Post
Review
"A stunningly illustrated study of 50 of the most significant Chinese Buddhist sculptures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this book is more than a mere catalogue. . . . Highly recommended."and#8212;D.K. Haworth, Choice
Synopsis
The Metropolitan Museums collection of Chinese Buddhist and Daoist sculpture is the largest in the Western world. In this lavish, comprehensive volume, archaeological discoveries and scientific testing and analysis serve as the basis for a reassessment of 120 works ranging in date from the 4th to the 19th century, many of them previously unpublished.
In addition to detailed discussions of fifty masterpiecesa heterogeneous group including portable shrines carved in wood, elegant bronze icons, monumental stone representations of the Buddha, colorful glazed-ceramic figures, and morethe catalogue presents a groundbreaking study of the methods used in crafting the sculptures. An introductory essay provides an indispensable overview of Buddhist iconography and explores the fascinating dialogue between Indian and Chinese culture that underlies the transmission of Buddhism into China.
Synopsis
Featuring all new photography, this comprehensive volume reassesses 120 works from the Metropolitan Museum's unparalleled collection of Chinese Buddhist and Daoist sculpture.
Synopsis
This engaging and visually stunning primer on Chinese ceramics enlightens readers about their function, decoration, and interpretation.
Synopsis
Chinese ceramics are among the most significant and widely collected decorative arts produced anywhere in the world, with a history that spans millennia. Despite the saturation of Chinese ceramics in global cultureandmdash;in English, the word andldquo;chinaandrdquo; has become synonymous with andldquo;porcelainandrdquo;andmdash;the function of these works and the meaning of their often richly decorated surfaces are not always readily apparent.
and#160;
This new installment in the successful How to Read series enlightens readers on Chinese ceramics of all kinds, using highlights from the outstanding collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a teaching tool. Accessible to a general audience and written by an expert on the subject, this book explains and interprets 40 masterworks of Chinese ceramics. The works represent a broad range of subject matter and type, from ancient earthenware to 20th-century porcelain, and from plates and bowls to vases and sculptural figures. Lavish illustrations showcase these stunning works and the decorations that adorn them, including symbolic scenes, flowers, and Buddhist and Chinese historical figures.and#160;
About the Author
Denise Patry Leidy is curator in the Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.