Search results for ""Author Alison Hardie""

Featuring beautiful photographs and insightful commentary this Chinese gardening book is a must have for any gardening or zen enthusiast.Celebrating the pleasures of garden living enjoyed by the elite of late imperial China, this book brings together poetry, prose, paintings and prints from imperial China to show the many facets of life and leisure in the Chinese garden. From music to lanterns, from chess to drama, all kinds of cultural activities could be enjoyed in a garden setting, alone or with friends and family. Here, too, the garden owner and his or her companions could appreciate the changing seasons with all their variety of scent, sound and colorful blossom. No wonder that dwelling in a garden was often compared to the carefree life of a Taoist immortal. Chinese Garden Appreciation, compiled by a leading expert in Chinese garden history, incorporates many original translations of classical Chinese poetry and prose.

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This book provides a condensed, comprehensible, but complete overview of the history of Chinese porcelain.By studying the most notable characteristics of porcelain in different periods throughout history, it explores the evolution of the great kilns, and describes the influence of factors such as social and economic development, political change, and foreign cultures. Each one of these affected porcelain's shapes, uses, colors, styles, patterns, and other features in unique ways. An Illustrated Brief History of Chinese Porcelain explains the cultural implications and the aesthetic and philosophical concepts which underlie the porcelain we know today.The origins of Chinese porcelain lie as far back as the Shang (1600–1050BCE) and Zhou (1046–256BCE) dynasties. One of the treasures of Chinese civilization, porcelain was first fashioned in the five great kiln-sites at the beginning of the second millennium, then evolved to form the splendid blue-and-white of the Yuan, before reaching its apogee in the Ming (1368–1644AD) and Qing (1644–1912AD) dynasties.An Illustrated Brief History of Chinese Porcelain makes extensive use of archeological material from excavations at historic kilns and grave sites undertaken since 1949, as well as the results of new research. It presents readers with images of outstanding examples of different types of porcelain—including celadon, blanc de Chine, famille rose, and blue-and-white ware.

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With dozens of stunning photographs, this modern translation of a Classic text is a masterpiece of classical Chinese gardening.Ji Cheng's great work on garden design, the Yuan Ye or Craft of Gardens, was originally published around 1631 and is the earliest manual of landscape gardening in the Chinese tradition. This is the first complete English translation of Ji Cheng's seminal work. This Chinese gardening book is based on J Cheng's notes and experiences from his career as a garden designer, which he discusses at some length in his introduction> Since architecture is an integral part of the Chinese garden, much of the book is taken up with the design of different types of buildings and the integration of architecture with nature in the garden. Ji Cheng explains the religious and aesthetic principles underlying garden design and the appropriate emotional response to various effects. he then offers a down-to-earth series of instructions about the requirements of different types of sites, building layouts, architectural features, paving, the construction of artificial mountains, selection of rocks, and the use of natural scenery.This delightful book provides not only insights into Chinese gardening but also a unique perspective on Chinese culture and society in the late Ming dynasty. Full notes by the translator explain obscure points and introduce relevant aspects of Chinese culture, while an introduction by Maggie Keswick sets the book firmly in its historical context. Illustrations include not only Ji Cheng's original diagrams but also historical paintings and contemporary photographs of a number of outstanding gardens in the part of East China where Ji Cheng lived and worked.

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