Unearthing China's Past

This book has been read, no wear to covers, some wear to dust cover, previous owner signed inner page. No other markings inner pages, spine intact, no creases. "Reading catalogues is not usually my thing, but I made an exception for this one because it has a long and interesting introduction about the state of Chinese archaeology back over 45 years ago. Published in 1973, it tells how grave robbers and wildcat "explorers" used to rip off China's ancient treasures and sell them to collectors, thus ensuring that nobody would know where they came from and what surrounded them (called "provenance" in the trade it seems). After the Revolution in 1949-50, all the chaos came to a stop and Chinese scholars began to publish work on their findings. The things they found were carefully put in museums. Contrary to public belief, the museums were not destroyed during the Cultural Revolution of 1966-75 and some archaeologists even kept working. There are 121 black and white plates in the catalogue section, each one accompanied by some extra details and interesting remarks. There are no color plates, and most annoyingly, no maps at all. What, does everyone know the location of every site? The authors still use the old spellings of Chinese personal and place names which might not be familiar to younger readers. However, if you are a student of Chinese archaeology or art history, this book could be very useful for you even if it is, of course, out of date today. It was written just before the discovery of the amazing pottery army at Xi'an." Bob Newman "Jan Fontein (22 May 1927 – 19 May 2017) was a Dutch art historian and former museum director. From 1966 to 1992 he served as curator of Asiatic art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Fontein was its director from 1975 to 1987. Tung Wu, Chinese curator, artist, art historian, educator. Grantee Freer Foundation University Michigan, 1968, Ford Foundation, Kansas City, 1969, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1978; recipient Outstanding Alumnus award Taiwan Normal University, 1997, Best Exhibition Catalogue, Independent Publication Assn, 1997." Prabook.com