4000 Years of Chinese Archaic Jades: The Development of the Jade-Carving Tradition from the Neolithic to the Han Dynasty

The book offers a thorough overview of the jade-carving tradition of ancient China through more than 350 fully illustrated that cover a time span of about four thousand years. The jades, presently in several private collections all over the world, cover an uninterrupted period of four-thousand years, spanning from the Neolithic (5th - 4th millennium BC) to the end of the Han dynasty (3rd century AD) and illustrate in detail almost all of the major forms and decorative motifs of the ancient Chinese jade-carving tradition. The jades have been selected for their cultural significance, rarity, aesthetic qualities and high level of workmanship, and have been arranged chronologically by historic period and culture. The book is divided in seven sections, each provided with an introduction that deals with the major characteristics of each historic period, followed by the single descriptions of the jades. The book is also provided with essential critical tools, such as a list of all the archaeological sites mentioned in the text, a detailed index to all of the technical terms and names cited in the book, bibliographical references, a synthetic map of major jade-using cultures and a chronological table.