Description
Book SynopsisFeatures the cultural side of Chinese imperial rule and of the court as a patron of scholars and the arts. This book offers glimpses of the magnificence of the collections Emperor Huizong (1082-1135) formed and the disparate fates of the objects after they were seized as booty by the Jurchen invaders in 1127.
Trade Review"Ebrey's groundbreaking book . . . considers Huizong's contribution to visual culture of the Northern Song dynasty and beyond. This is a magisterial undertaking. . . . This is a much needed and timely work . . . [and] a major accomplishment in scholarship on the Northern Song dynasty."
-- Roslyn Lee Hammers * China Review International *
"Ebrey's depiction of how the court appropriated literati collecting practices during Huizong's reign succeeds in presenting imperial collecting as a positive instrument for cultivating political power."
-- Foong Ping * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *
"The collections of the late Northern Song emperor Huizong (r. 1100-1125) were unprecedented in scale and comprehensiveness. Accumulating Culture is a highly readable, handsomely illustrated account of Huizong's quarter century of collecting, which culminated in the compilation of three catalogues that became standards for centuries thereafter."
* Journal of Asian Studies *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
List of Tables
Preface
A Note on Dates, Measurements, and Other Conventions
Chronology
Introduction
1. Early Song Precedents
2. Strains in Emperor-Literati Relations during the Reform Era
3. Collecting As a Scholarly Passion during the Northern Song Period
4. Huizong As a Collector
5. Managing the Collections at the Palace Library
6. Collecting and Cataloguing Antiquities
7. Collecting and Cataloguing Calligraphy
8. Collecting and Cataloguing Paintings
9. The Fate of Huizong's Collections
Reflections
Appendix 1: Authorship and Editions of the Catalogues
Appendix 2: Paintings and Calligraphies with Huizong's Collector Seals
Appendix 3: Major Extant Pre-Song Calligraphies Listed in the Xuanhe Calligraphy Catalogue
Notes
Bibliography
Glossary-Index
