The aims of this volume are to reflect on the fundamental issues in the theory and practice of connoisseurship of Chinese painting in particular and those of connoisseurship of art in general. One of the most important challenges facing art historians and museum professionals today is that graduate schools have produced art historians with serious weakness, particularly a lack of direct firsthand experience with works of art in the original. If we base our construction of art history on works of calligraphy and painting and on the inscriptions, colophons, and seal impressions that accompany them, we must first make sure of their authorship and identity. "This fascinating book, the first one in which connoisseurship in Chinese painting and in European painting are discussed together, enables us not only to confront several approaches in the authentication of Chinese painting, but also to benefit from the Western art studies in connoisseurial analysis and the complex nature of copywork." -Michèle Pirazzoli-t'Serstevens, formerly Curator of Far Eastern Art of the Musée Guimet, Paris, currently Directeur d'études, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, author of La Civilisation du Royaume de Dian à l'époque Han, La Chine des Han:histoire et civilization, Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766): Peintre et Architecte à la Cour de Chine, and editor of Storia Universale dell'Arte : La Cina. "These thoughtful essays, addressing a range of historical, cultural, and philosophical issues, should remind all of us that the objectness of objects is the starting point from which all else follows." -Peter Sturman, Chair, Department of the History of Art and Architecture, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of Mi Fu: Style and the Art of Calligraphy in Northern Song China. "Connoisseurship is the most fundamental yet often overlooked aspect of art history: it has the ability to affirm or completely change our understanding of an art work, the artist's oeuvre, or even art history itself. This volume is the first extensive investigation of Chinese connoisseurship as a general and theoretical discipline." -Pauline Lin, Bryn Mawr College, has published articles in The Review of Politics and Dictionary of Literary Biography: Classical Chinese Writers and is working on a book, Nature Inside Out: The Culture of Landscape from the City of Ye (196-240). "Connoisseurship is the necessary base of art history, for until we know who made what when, we cannot engage in interpretation of paintings. Bringing together scholars from diverse backgrounds, this volume provides the necessary basis for the most important task facing art historians today, the creation of a true world art history." - David Carrier, Champney Family Professor, Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Institute of Art and author of Sean Scully, Museum Skepticism: A History of the Display of Art in Public Galleries, and A World Art History.

Jason C. Kuo is Professor of Art History and Archaeology and a member of the Graduate Field Committee in Film Studies and has taught at the National Taiwan University, Williams College, and Yale University. He is the author of Wang Yuanqi de shanshuihua yishu [Wang Yuanqi’s Art of Landscape Painting] (1981), Long tiandi yu xingnei [Trapping Heaven and Earth in the Cage of Form] (1986), The Austere Landscape: The Paintings of Hung-jen (1992), Word as Image: The Art of Chinese Seal Engraving (1992), Art and Cultural Politics in Postwar Taiwan (2000), Yishushi yu yishu piping de shijian [Practicing Art History and Art Criticism] (2002), Transforming Traditions in Modern Chinese Painting: Huang Pin-hung’s Late Work (2004), Chinese Ink Painting Now (2010), The Inner Landscape: The Paintings of Gao Xingjian (2013).

He has curated exhibitions such as Innovation within Tradition: The Painting of Huang Pin-hung (1989), Born of Earth and Fire: Chinese Ceramics from the Scheinman Collection (1992), Heirs to a Great Tradition: Modern Chinese Paintings from the Tsien-hsiang-chai Collection (1993), The Helen D. Ling Collection of Chinese Ceramics (1995), Double Beauty: Qing Dynasty Couplets from the Lechangzai Xuan Collection (with Peter Sturman) (2003).

His edited books include Discovering Chinese Painting: Dialogues with Art Historians (2006), Visual Culture in Shanghai, 1850s–1930s (2007), Perspectives on Connoisseurship of Chinese Painting (2008), Stones from Other Mountains: Chinese Painting Studies in Postwar America (2009), Contemporary Chinese Art and Film: Theory Applied and Resisted (2012).

His writings have appeared in a broad spectrum of publications, including Art Journal, Asian Culture Quarterly, Chinese Culture Quarterly, Chinese Studies, National Palace Museum Bulletin, National Palace Museum Research Quarterly, Orientations, China Quarterly, China Review International, Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of Asian and African Studies, and Ars Orientalis. He has been the evaluator of manuscripts for such academic publishers as University of Washington Press, Duke University Press, Mayfield Publishing, Prentice-Hall, University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies, University of California Press, University of Hawaii Press, Stanford University Press, and for such journals as Imago Musicae (US), Modern Chinese Literature and Culture (US), Acta Universitatis Carolinae-Orientalia Pragensia (Prague), Far Eastern History (Australia), Art History (UK), Art Bulletin (US), Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Britain and Ireland (UK), Frontiers of History in China (China), Modern China: An International Journal of History and Social Science (US).