| Description |
xviii, 219 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm |
| Contents |
1. Books about things : the literature of Ming connoisseurship -- 2. Ideas about things : themes in Ming connoisseurship literature -- 3. Words about things : the language of Ming connoisseurship -- 4. Things of the past : uses of the antique in Ming material culture -- 5. Things in motion : Ming luxury objects as commodities -- 6. Anxieties about things : consumption and class in Ming China -- App. I. Editors of Treatise on superfluous things -- App. II. Selected prices for works of art and antique artefacts c. 1560-1620 |
| Summary |
"This book, presented here with a new preface, examines the history of material culture in early modern China. Craig Clunas analyzes "superfluous things" - the paintings, calligraphy, bronzes, ceramics, carved jade, and other objects owned by the elites of Ming China - and describes contemporary attitudes toward them. He informs his discussions with references to both socio-cultural theory and current debates on eighteenth-century England concerning luxury, conspicuous consumption, and the growth of the consumer society."--BOOK JACKET |
| Notes |
Originally published: Cambridge : Polity Press, 1991. With new pref |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [197]-209) and index |
| Subject |
Social classes -- China -- History -- 20th century.
|
| LC no. |
2004001199 |
| ISBN |
0824828208 paperback alkaline paper |
|
