A celebration of Taoist art traces the influence of philosophy on the visual arts in China.

Based on papers presented at a conference held by a subcommittee on Chinese thought attached to the Committee on Far Eastern Studies jointly sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies and the Far Eastern Association. Includes bibliographies.

"Papers ... presented at the 1957 and 1958 conferences sponsored by the Committee on Chinese Thought ... of the Association for Asian Studies." Bibliographical references included in "Notes" (p. [335]-373).

The funerary shrine of the Confucian scholar Wu Liang, created in AD 151, is the most important surviving pre-Buddhist monument in China. That is to say, it is the most important single work of visual art from the centuries that set the patterns of Chinese thought for almost two millennia. The importance of the shrine lies in the beauty of the stone reliefs on its walls and, especially, in the remarkably comprehensive iconography of its nearly one hundred scenes. They constitute, in effect, a coherent symbolic structure of the universe as the Han Chinese conceived it. This structure consists of three sections: the ceiling carvings present the Mandate of Heaven; the scenes on the two gables depict the paradise of the immortals; and the 44 stories related on the walls illustrate the history of mankind, starting with the creators of human culture and ending with a portrait of Wu Liang, who designed his own memorial. The author finds the shrine comparable, in the comprehensiveness and cultural significance of its iconography, to the cathedral at Chartres or the Sistine Chapel.

Body and Cosmos presents a series of articles by renowned Indological scholars on the early Indian medical and astral sciences. It is published on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Professor Emeritus Kenneth G. Zysk.

This volume deals with the events which prepared the way for the rebellion of the frontier general An Lu-Shan, which weakened the T'ang dynasty (712-756 A.D.) so that it gradually collapsed into a number of independent states in the Five Dynasties period.

Every year, thousands of visitors flock to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the largest museum devoted exclusively to the arts of Asia in the United States. Featuring more than 18,000 artworks, the museum's world-class collection highlights the unique material, aesthetic, and intellectual achievements of Asian art and culture. This book presents two hundred and thirty exemplary works spanning both ancient and modern times. Among its many treasures, readers will find a Japanese clay jar from 3000-2000 BCE, a Chinese bronze Buddha dating to 338, a seventeenth-century Indian painting from the Shahnama (Book of Kings), a mid-twentieth-century Korean wrapping cloth, and a new Thai work made from textile, window mesh, safety pins, and amulets. A collaboration between museum curators, artists, educators, and collectors, the book also takes an in-depth look at fourteen masterpieces selected for their beauty, rarity, and historical importance. Stunning full-color photographs and new texts—including a foreword by museum director Ja Xu—offer fresh perspectives on both ancient and contemporary objects. A handsome addition to any art history collection, this volume is an essential resource for museum visitors as well as anyone interested in Asian art.