Hand and Reference Books | 100 Best Books on Chinese Porcelain

Dating Chinese Porcelain from Facial Features and Adornments – A HANDBOOK

By: Tommy Eklöf

Chinese Export Porcelain // Hand and Reference Books

This book is the result of years of original research, following a new line of thought when it comes to Chinese porcelain decorations. The observation is a simple one, that in creating decorations that involves people, the artists would somehow be considering the fashion of the day in their depictions.

Even if the figures in the decorations were not contemporary, Tommy Eklöf felt that still, the mannerism used in the artists renderings would change over time and then still create a hereto overlooked way to date and authenticate Chinese porcelain – based on facial features and adornments.

After an original research that have taken several years and several thousands of objects – carefully dated by consensus among experts as well as by traditional means – this book now covers the period from the late Ming dynasty, throughout the Qing dynasty and the Republic Period, up to the present day.

While nothing can beat actually handling an object, this book is a shortcut to learning to see the details that the experts are looking at.

It is a must have for dealers appraisers and auction houses, as well as the collector, hoping to “beat the game” by knowing just that little more about what tells the copies from the originals.

While reading a book is always good, to be able to ask the author is better. Included in all purchases of this book regardless of from which reseller you buy your copy, is one month (30 days) free membership in the Gotheborg.com Discussion Board where the author is a senior member.

More information of the book can be found here http://dragonsface.se

Click here to buy the book via the Gotheborg.com Webshop

Paperback: 163 pages
1st edition 2013
Author: Tommy Eklöf
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9163733374
ISBN-13: 978-9163733376
Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds

Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art
By: Terese Tse Bartholomew

Hand and Reference Books

Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art,
By: Bartholomew, Terese Tse

“Terese Tse is a well known scholar and curator at the SF Asian Art Museum and this is a monumental work. It covers what is in Fang Jing Pei’s book, Rebuses in Chinese Art, and much more. It really encompasses the subject well and I am really pleased with all the info. ”

9.25 x 12.25″, 351 pp., profusely illustrated in color, bibliography, English-language index, Pinyin Subject index, Pinyin Auspicious Phrase index, cloth, d.j., San Francisco, 2006.
Published on the occasion of the exhibition: Hidden Meanings: Symbolism in Chinese Art, presented at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco from October 7 through December 31, 2006.

PROVENANCE. Collectors, Dealers and Scholars in the Field of Chinese Ceramics in Britain and America
By: Roy Davids & Dominic Jellinek

Hand and Reference Books

Davids, Roy & Jellinek, Dominic: PROVENANCE. Collectors, Dealers and Scholars in the Field of Chinese Ceramics in Britain and America. Great Haseley, 2011. 500 pp. Over 150 illustrations. 28×22 cm. Cloth.

A major resource for the provenance of Chinese ceramics from collections in Britain and America. Contains 1064 biographies of collectors, dealers and scholars from the 17th century collector, Queen Mary II, onwards to the 20th century. A 40 page introduction traces ceramic contacts between China and Britain and America from the 16th to the 21st centuries. Also includes sections on fakes, the psychology of collecting, a dissertation on export versus domestic wares and much more. Numerous appendices including one on collectors’ labels.

Certainly not the best book to study the ceramics themselves, but if you are interested in the impact of Chinese ceramics collecting in the western culture, this book is irreplaceable.

Symbols and Rebuses in Chinese Art:
Figures, Bugs, Beasts, and Flowers
By: Fang Jing Pei

Hand and Reference Books

Symbols and Rebuses in Chinese Art: Figures, Bugs, Beasts, and Flowers

This is a modern book about symbolism found in Chinese art. An A-to-Z catalog of hundreds of symbols represented in the Chinese arts, with images and text to explore their meanings. Includes more than 200 color and black-and-white images of ceramics, porcelains, carvings, lacquers, embroidery, paintings, and wood blocks depicting the various symbols.

A rebus in Chinese art is a pictorial representation of a word or syllable. The author explains, for instance, why a depiction of a bat can mean happiness, and why some beautiful images, such as sparrows and pears, are rarely seen. Using myths, folklore, history, and religion to explore the significance of each symbol

It does not cover everything but what it covers it does well. The pictures are great. What I like about this book and what I believe sets if apart is that it also list much less known symbols like cactus and the five poisons and the “bak choy” pattern etc. It also list the meaning when one symbol is found together with another symbol. Quite a number of the listings also have images for reference.

This is a very good book and is highly recommended

Published by Ten Speed Press
214 pages
ISBN: 1-58008-551-2

China – Ancient Kilns and Modern Ceramics:
A Guide to the Potteries
By: Wanda Garnsey with Rewi Alley

Glaze and Pottery Technique // Hand and Reference Books

China, ancient kilns and modern ceramics: A guide to the modern potteries

Organized geographically by provinces, the guide provides information on pottery in these provinces, with informative descriptions and illustrations. The book is from 1983 and when it comes to historical reference literature I feel this is actually good. This is just a few years after the Cultural Revolution and the modern industrialization have not yet altered all traditional industries.

I have seen this book availavle from around $30 to more than $300 and would like to suggest that you look around some before you hit the ‘buy’ button.

Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1983. Illustrated with photographs in colour and black and white, maps. 28 cm. XIII, 144 pages
The book also on the Smithsonian reading list.

The Handbook of Marks of Chinese Ceramics
By: Gerald Davison

Hand and Reference Books

The Handbook of Marks on Chinese Ceramics

This second edition is an updated version of the author’s first handbook, A Guide to Marks on Chinese Porcelain. This edition is the recognized best western handbook on marks on Chinese Porcelain.

A Dictionary of Chinese Ceramics
By: Wang Qingzheng

Hand and Reference Books