Early in his career, Judge Dee visits a senior magistrate who shows him a beautiful lacquer screen on which a scene of lovers has been mysteriously altered to show the man stabbing his lover. The magistrate fears he is losing his mind and will murder his own wife. Meanwhile, a banker has inexplicably killed himself, and a lovely lady has allowed Dee's lieutenant, Chiao Tai, to believe she is a courtesan. Dee and Chiao Tai go incognito among a gang of robbers to solve this mystery, and find the leader of the robbers is more honorable than the magistrate. "One of the most satisfyingly devious of the Judge Dee novels, with unusual historical richness in its portrayal of the China of the T'ang dynasty."-—New York Times Book Review "Even Judge Dee is baffled by Robert van Gulik's new mysteries in The Lacquer Screen. Disguised as a petty crook, he spends a couple of precarious days in the headquarters of the underworld, hobnobbing with the robber king. Dee's lively thieving friends furnish some vital clues to this strange and fascinating jigsaw."-—The Spectator "So scrupulously in the classic Chinese manner yet so nicely equipped with everything to satisfy the modern reader."-—New York Times Robert Van Gulik (1910-67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. He drew his plots from the whole body of Chinese literature, especially from the popular detective novels that first appeared in the seventeenth century.

Coromandel is an area of the east coast of India between the Godava River and Nagapatnam. Contrary to what its name implies, Coromandel lacquer does not come from this region but from China. Although almost all museums with a major Oriental art collection own a Coromandel screen, no monograph has so far been dedicated to that theme. This is the first book to directly address this subject. Aimed at a public with an interest in Oriental art, this book is divided in to four parts. The first part gives a brief overview of trade relations between East and West. In order to place the emergence of Coromandel screen in its proper context, the first part also details the evolution of Chinese lacquer. The second part deals with the origin of Coromandel lacquer technique and the third part describes the various decorative patterns to be found in the screens featured in the book. By comparing the style of the dated screens with that of undated ones, the authors have formed a theory of how the Coromandel style developed. Part four includes a research into the materials and techniques used in the manufacture of a Coromandel screen. Here old Chinese texts on lacquer techniques are consulted and fragments of Coromandel lacquer are examined. This book provides the first step toward broader and deeper research on the subject and should encourage more discussions on the subject. It will become one of the classic references that breaks new ground in this much-neglected subject.

A plain white or colored T-shirt is a blank canvas waiting to be turned into a wearable work of art. This follow-up to the wildly successful THE GREAT T-SHIRT BOOK is brimming with fantastic and easy ways to paint, stamp, stencil, tie-dye, marble, batik, screen print, and applique a one-of-a-kind clothing item. 80 color photos. 20 bandw illustrations.

Now available in Softcover! This 2nd edition of Plastics is now available in softcover. It provides readers with a good overall general working knowledge of the subject and it aims to give systematic and complete coverage of finishing, from basic fabrication through to the more recent technical ingenuities, which radically change the key characteristics of materials. The book embraces all aspects of the decoration and surface finishing of plastics, reviewing the techniques used, the types of material for which they may be employed, necessary pre-treatments, the problems of finishing (including how to overcome them and methods of test), and possible uses. The fabrication of natural materials, such as bone or horn, was the traditional craft from which the modern industry was born and the book explains how methods and machinery have been adapted, modified and developed for work with plastics. Written by contributors with wide industrial experience, the book is aimed at advanced undergraduates, researchers and technicians, as well as designers of consumer products and those with a general interest in plastics. It will also prove to be valuable reading for anyone planning a career in manufacturing, not just for plastics but any field in which packaging is used, such as food products or pharmaceuticals.

East and West have long stood as towering edifices dividing history and the world into separate spheres. In fact, the two poles have not only shared a multitude of connections over the centuries, they have also played essential roles in shaping the identities of their oppositional others. Cultural exchange, mutual imaginings, and other forms of interaction have contributed to both the creation of an exotic other and a framing and definition of the self. The essays in this collection explore the creation and transformation of self image through the encounter between East and West from a variety of disciplinary approaches. Scholars from Japan and Europe apply methodologies and concerns from history, literature, art history, aesthetics, sociology, political science, law, and anthropology to issues of identity formation and transformation at the nexus of East Asia and Europe.