Volume I, a comprehensive introduction, the most thorough treatment of Shang bronzes in any language, lays the foundation for 104 catalogue entries, many of which explore in greater detail specific problems in casting technology, epigraphy, vessel typology, and provincial bronze styles. Color plates of all the Sackler bronzes are supplemented by rubbings, details, and more than 500 comparative illustrations. Throughout the book the author has made systematic use of the astonishing archaeological discoveries of the last 15 years, discoveries which include major finds of pre-Anyang bronzes and the unprecedented excavation in 1976 of an intact Shang royal tomb.
In Volume II Rawson's contribution starts with Volume IIA, a survey of Western Zhou (c.1050-771 B.C.) bronze types, with more emphasis on dating of shapes and designs than on the use or meaning of the vessels. A wealth of appendixes include information on archaeological sites, inscriptions, and detailed laboratory analyses of bronze samples. Volume IIB is the catalog itself, with a full-page color photograph of each vessel followed by a detailed description and comparisons with relevant pieces from other collections. Although probably not of much interest to the general public, this work gathers a tremendous amount of information for specialists and researchers.
Volume III: In a thorough and up-to-date introduction, Dr. Jenny So, former Assistant Curator of Ancient Chinese Art at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, gives a detailed account of the history of Eastern Zhou bronzes. Particularly valuable is Dr. So's systematic use of the latest archaeological discoveries to trace regional and chronological developments and to study the political context in which bronzes were made and used. An especially valuable supplement to the volume is a major study of bronze bells coauthored by an archaeologist and an acoustical physicist, Professor Lothar von Falkenhausen of UCLA and Professor Thomas D. Rossing of Northern Illinois University. The Sackler Collection includes twenty-one bells, which were employed in the same offering rituals as the bronze vessels. Ninety color plates provide full documentation of the Sackler bronzes and over 560 black-and-white comparative illustrations help to set them in the context provided by archaeological research. Scholarly appendices report elemental composition data on the bronze alloys, lead-isotope ratios, and thermoluminescence dating tests of clay core material.
Price: $265.00
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