Decorative Arts of Japan

Kodansha International Ltd, Tokyo, 1964 Book. Fair. Hardcover. 1st Edition. English text; Hardcover (with dustjacket); 262 pages with tipped in colour plates: 29 (ceramics), 27 (metal works), 25 (lacquer ware) and 26 textiles; 27 x 35 cm; 3.078 kg; Used book with signs of wear, namely a small stain on the hardcover cloth (only seem if the dust jacket is removed). Minor signs of wear on the interior. The hinge is slightly loose, but the binding remains firm. The dust jacket has tears and minor chips and is now protected with a clearcover.; For us in the West, the category "Fine Arts" refers almost exclusively to painting and sculpture. The rest we relegate to the status of 'minor arts', crafts and curiosities. In China and Japan this has not been the case, and a famous Oriental painter has also been a calligrapher, a potter, a maker of lacquered objects, etc. And well-known Japanese potters occupy an exalted position in the history of Japanese arts as do the most important painters and sculptors. The book presents a full account of these often neglected, but by no means minor, Japanese arts - ceramics, lacquer ware, metal work, textiles. The plates have been selected to give a coherent account of those arts, and to illustrate in full colour the best available examples of all important types or styles in their proper historical context. The full explanations of all the plates have been prepared by outstanding authorities in their respective fields. The general introduction, by Professor Chisaburoh F. Yamada, a recognized scholar of both Western and Far Eastern arts, has been designed to bring Japanese and Western aesthetics principles to bear on the subject, and thus render it meaningful in terms of world art as a whole. Decorative Arts of Japan is a necessary addition to any collection of books on Japanese art..