| Description |
1 online resource (xvi, 374 pages) : illustrations |
| Series |
Harvard East Asian monographs ; 262 |
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Harvard East Asian monographs ; 262.
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| Contents |
Introduction. Graphic patterns and social order -- 1. Style -- 2. Terms of craft -- 3. Abstraction -- 4. Craft -- 5. Government -- 6. Labor, invention, and "taste" -- 7. Craft and political theory -- 8. Ornament and identity -- 9. Bureaucracy and agency -- 10. The politics of personhood -- 11. Patterns, pictures, and fractals -- 12. The laws of nature -- 13. Nature and society -- 14. Identity and possession -- Epilogue. Sources of self |
| Summary |
"In Classical China, crafted artifacts offered a material substrate for abstract thought, as graphic paradigms for social relationships. Focusing on the 5th to 2nd centuries B.C., Martin Powers explores how these paradigms continued to inform social thought long after the material substrate had been abandoned. In this detailed study, the author makes the claim that artifacts are never neutral: as distinctive possessions, each object - through the abstracting function of style - offers a material template for scales of value. Likewise, through style, pictorial forms can make claims about material "referents," the things depicted. By manipulating these scales and their referents, artifacts can shape the way status, social role, or identity is understood and enforced. The result is a kind of "spatial epistemology" within which the identities of persons are constructed. Powers thereby posits a relationship between art and society that operates at a level deeper than iconography, attributes, or social institutions."--Jacket |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 355-367) and index |
| Notes |
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL |
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English |
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digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL |
| SUBJECT |
Kölner Künstlervereinigung Stil gnd |
| Subject |
Decoration and ornament -- China -- History -- To 221 B.C. -- Themes, motives
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Decoration and ornament -- China -- History -- Qin-Han dynasties, 221 B.C.-220 A.D. -- Themes, motives
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Decorative arts -- Social aspects -- China
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Self-perception in art.
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Decoration and ornament -- China -- History -- To 221 B.C.
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Decoration and ornament -- China -- History -- Qin-Han dynasties, 221 B.C.-220 A.D.
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HISTORY -- Europe -- Great Britain.
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Decoration and ornament -- Themes, motives
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Decorative arts -- Social aspects
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Self-perception
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Gesellschaft
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Individuum
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Kunsthandwerk
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Stil
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China
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China
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| Genre/Form |
History
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9781684174294 |
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1684174295 |
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