China can boast a history of art lasting 5,000 years and embracing a huge diversity of images and objects - jade tablets, painted silk handscrolls and fans, ink and lacquer painting, porcelain-ware, sculptures, and calligraphy. They range in scale from the vast `terracotta army' with its 7,000 or so life-size figures, to the exquisitely delicate writing of fourth-century masters such as Wang Xizhin and his teacher, `Lady Wei'. But this rich tradition has not, until now, been fully appreciated in the West where scholars have focused their attention on sculpture, downplaying art more highly prized by the Chinese themselves such as calligraphy. Art in China marks a breakthrough in the study of the subject. Drawing on recent innovative scholarship and on newly-accessible studies in China itself Craig Clunas surveys the full spectrum of the visual arts in China. He ranges from the Neolithic period to the art scene of the 1980s and 1990s, examining art in a variety of contexts as it has been designed for tombs, commissioned by rulers, displayed in temples, created for the men and women of the educated ilite, and bought and sold in the marketplace. Many of the objects illustrated in this book have previously been known only to a few specialists, and will be totally new to a general audience.

柯律格（Craig Clunas）

英國牛津大學藝術史係講座教授，中國美術史及物質文明史重要學者。曾任職於倫敦維多利亞與艾伯特博物館遠東部，長期負責中國藝術品研究及策展工作。2006年，因在中國文化和藝術史研究領域中的成就和貢獻，被提名為英國人文社會科學院院士。著有《長物誌：早期現代中國的物質文化與社會地位》《雅債：文徵明的社會性藝術》《明代的圖像與視覺性》等。

劉穎

中央美術學院博士，現任教於成都大學美術學院，從事美術史教學和中國宗教美術研究。