Art in China marks a breakthrough in the study of the subject. Drawing on recent innovative scholarship - and on newly-accessible studies in China itself - Craig Clunas surveys the full spectrum of the visual arts in China.

He ranges from the Neolithic period to the art scene of the 1980s and 1990s, examining art in a variety of contexts - as it has been designed for tombs, commissioned by rulers, displayed in temples, created by the men and women of the educated elite, and bought and sold in the marketplace. Many of the objects illustrated in this book have previously been known only to a few specialists, and will be totally new to a general audience.