Glorious Qing: Decorative Arts in China, 1644-1911

With over 250 color illustrations, this companion volume to Claudia Brown’s Great Qing: Painting in China, 1644-1911 covers an array of superbly crafted objects of art produced during China’s last dynasty. It features ceramics, metalwork, textiles, lacquer, glass, jade, and works of bamboo selected from collections in North America, Europe, China, and Taiwan. Art historian Brown probes the materials, motivations, technologies, and skills of Qing period artists, along with trends in art patronage and collecting. She considers objects of private patronage, including snuff bottles and instruments for the scholar’s desk, alongside imperial commissions, palace furnishings, and pieces made for export in the flourishing East-West trade market. Moving chronologically from one emperor’s reign to the next, Glorious Qing offers a comprehensive survey of Qing decorative arts that will delight experts and novices alike, from collectors to students of art history.

Claudia Brown is professor of art history at Arizona State University and research curator for Asian art at the Phoenix Art Museum. She is author of Great Qing: Painting in China, 1644-1911.