Mysterious Spirits, Strange Beasts, Earthly Delights Early Chinese Art from the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Collection

Winner of a Choice Magazine 2006 Outstanding Academic Title Award Mysterious Spirits, Strange Beasts, Earthly Delights features artifacts from one of the most compelling periods in China's early history, the Warring States and Qin-Han eras. They comprise a seven-century span (4th century bce-3rd century ce) remarkable for artifacts of wide-ranging subject matter. Among them are found both imaginative creatures of the supernatural world and realistic images of many objects and artifacts of daily life in the secular world. Here are figures of mythical beasts, dogs, courtly attendants, musicians with their instruments, a chef trimming fish, horsemen, an elaborate watchtower, a pigpen, fanciful trees, game players, wine vessels, and ordinary plates. Some originally afforded luxurious and opulent comforts for the living, or protection and blessing for the deceased. Asian art scholars Donald Jenkins and Jay Xu provide absorbing and lucid overviews of the period and a fascinating discussion of each object. The book offers insights into the interests, concerns, and aesthetic values of the ancient Chinese people.