Eastern, Far Eastern
Accompanies an exhibition at the Museum Rietberg, Zurich (1 May – 21 August 2011) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (26 September 2011 – 8 January 2012)
Masters of Indian Painting, 1100–1900
800 pages, in 2 volumes, hardcover; 310 x 230 mm, over 500 illustrations
PRICE: £120.00
ISBN: ISBN 978 3 907077 50 4
Customers in the US or Canada, CLICK HERE
By Milo Beach, B. N. Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer
Accompanying an exhibition that promises to be the most comprehensive survey of Indian painting that the West has ever seen, this beautiful twovolume catalogue spans 800 years of Indian painting, and some 240 masterpieces by more than 40 artists. These great Indian masters are unquestionably the equals of Du?rer, Michelangelo or Vermeer. The artworks shown in the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, and later at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, come from such outstanding collections as the Royal Collection of Windsor Castle, the Golestan Palace in Tehran or the Institute for Oriental Manuscripts in St Petersburg.
Although Indian painters were celebrated as ‘wonders of their age’ by their contemporaries, for a long time very little was known about their lives. There are no Indian equivalents of sources such as Vasari’s biographies of European Renaissance artists. The fact that artistic traditions were shaped within a family, a workshop, or a court, adds to the difficulty of attributing works to individual artists. But thanks to many years of painstaking research, the deciphering of microscopically small signatures, analyses of pilgrim registers, and, especially, stylistic comparisons, more is now known. For example, about Farrukh Beg, who painted in Iran, in Kabul, Lahore, Bijapur, and Agra, or the brothers Manaku and Nainsukh who, despite their joint training in their father‘s workshop, differ significantly in style.
Literati material finds its way into parts of the brain which regular works of antiquity cannot reach; the convoluted twists of cunning poetic allusions, themselves referring back and further back, to old writings, inscriptions on stone, legendary heroes and their mottoes, and not infrequent misquotes, can catch the unwary seeker after meaning in their complex web, causing him to lose all sense of afternoons and sometimes days. While one can admire Chinese literati works for their purely visual appeal and intimate, personable presence, it is their literary content that renders them so endlessly individual and subjective of interpretation. More
This book explores the surprising heights of the idiosyncratic lone Japanese artist, the odd man out, experimenting his way through the fine arts and laying his own pathway forwards as he did. It is intended as a joyous celebration of his genius. Dating from the late 17th to the early 20th century, 69 special and individual works of painting, sculpture, ceramic, lacquer, fancy metalwork and a striking selection of pipecases and their sagemono, inro and netsuke in various materials, are catalogued with beautiful photography and detailed descriptions. More
The extensively researched, in-depth, full-colour catalogue features a painstaking selection of 19 paintings and 47 'literati-taste' objects. The emphasis of all of them is on the extraordinary range of Chinese figural representation, with its tendency to humanize divine images and idealize secular figures, so that they meet somewhere in the middle as 'informal icons'. More
The Maharanas of Mewar in Rajasthan have long been regarded as pre-eminent among the Rajput chiefs of India and as dedicated guardians of social and cultural tradition. The Mewar school of painting, centred first at Chitor and later at Udaipur, was one of the most vigorous and prolific of all Indian court styles. It reveals an unrivalled continuity of development from the 16th century or earlier until as late as the 1940s. More
The second in the series of catalogues and exhibitions on the endlessly diverse subject of artworks which reflect the culture of the Chinese scholar class and some of the individuals who comprised it. Amongst the works presented here are a group of signed and superb rhinoceros horn carvings; imposing stone desk objects, including unusual and fine examples by metalworker Hu Wen-ming; an interesting group of Chin Hsi-yai bamboo carvings from the carver's own collection; and a group of imperially-related objects centering around the K'and-hsi Emperor's Tour of the South handscroll. More
The purpose of this catalogue is twofold: to bring to the notice of the Western collecting public a random selection of what constitutes a true Chinese connoisseurship in real Chinese art; and to give notice to that same shy public of the directions being taken and interests indulged at the Sydney L. Moss gallery. Apart from painting and calligraphy, included are bamboo carving, I-hsing wares, wood, ivory, bone, rhinoceros horn, jade, soapstone and hardstone carving, textile, lacquer and metal-work, several examples of the seal-carvers' art and a very few ceramic items. More
The third and last in the series of catalogues and exhibitions on the endlessly diverse subject of artworks which reflect the culture of the Chinese scholar class and some of the individuals who comprised it. It follows on the heels of Documentary Chinese Works of Art in Scholars' Taste and Emperor Scholar Artisan Monk. Over 160 fine examples of painting, calligraphy and desk or scholastic objects, dating from the 15th to the 20th century, are presented with colour photographs and detailed, educative entries. More
Known today as the youngest of the remarkable "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou", Luo Ping was one of the most versatile, original, and celebrated artists in eighteenth-century China. This accompanies an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, of works drawn primarily from leading museums in China, and will include rarely seen masterpieces as well as overlooked or unpublished works to provide a broad spectrum of Luo’s multiple talents and extraordinary pictorial prowess. More
The Admiralty Islands, a group of more than twenty islets with approximately 25,000 inhabitants, lie north of New Guinea in the southwest Pacific. This catalogue delineates the main characteristics of the art of the Admiralty Islands. It presents some 100 objects which rank among the best in the world. More
In as far as the Indian term 'tantrism' is known in the West, it is generally linked with mystery and mysticism as well as with sex, magic and hocus-pocus. Indeed, tantrism is connected with all these and even more. Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Jainism, Vajrayana, Bönpo, Ayurveda and Shamanism are some of the philosophies, religions and sciences that were somehow influenced by tantrism. More
After Andrew Topsfield’s recent study Court Painting at Udaipur, which was welcomed by scholars as the definitive research on the Mewar school for long, we are proud to present a monograph on two Devgarh artists that covers the lesser known artistic developments of the history of Mewar painting. This publication focuses on two master-artists, Bagta and his son Chokha, who worked first for the prestigious court of the Maharanas of Udaipur before they became involved with the rawats of Devgarh in the second half of the eighteenth century and nineteenth century respectively. More
The main attraction of the handscroll for the artist is that it is virtually infinite in terms of the development of an idea, or series of ideas. Whether painting a landscape or writing drunken poetry, you go on until you reach a logical conclusion, then you stop. For this reason, most of the finest Chinese artists produced their most important works as handscrolls. More
The biggest, the best and theoretically the final volume in Sydney L. Moss gallery's trilogy of superior netsuke publications, regarded by some authorities as the finest offering of select netsuke in living memory. Over 300 colour photographs of consistently excellent works. More
This unique book is a compilation of the rituals and ceremonies observed by the royal family of Kotah. It is intended to benefit not only future generations of the Kotah family, but also those wanting to catch a glimpse behind the scenes otherwise hidden from the observer. More
‘Abd al-Rahim, the commander-in-chief of the mughal armies and a great bibliophile, was the most important patron of Mughal painting outside the imperial family. John Seyller presents the seven illustrated manuscripts commissioned by this eminent noble and places them in the context of imperial Mughal painting and patronage at the beginning of the 17th century. This book provides a nuanced picture of the interaction among artists in a series of collaborative projects and an original and thoughtful analysis of patronage in Mughal India. More
Literati painting of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties was created in, essentially, four forms: hanging scrolls, handscrolls, albums and fans. Many of the leading artists, both calligraphers and painters, set out to produce their most important and extensive works in the almost infinitely expandable linear format of the handscroll. However, it is in the smaller formats that the subtleties of literati brushwork are better appreciated and discerned. Many painters did their best work in the small, intimate formats of fan and album painting. More
A selection of the finest works from the well-known Willi G. Bosshard collection, the one hundred netsuke are extraordinarily strong in Kyoto school animals, particularly rats and tigers, of which there must surely be enough masterpieces for anyone at all interested. Works by Masanao, Tomotada, Okatomo and virtually every worthwhile follower form a richly varied, comprehensive overview of the period from the mid to late 18th century and of the repertoire of subjects. More
First published a quarter-century ago in German, Dietrich Seckel’s essay remains a vital contribution to a much-debated feature of Buddhist art, its aniconism, its aversion to depicting spiritual entities of the very highest order. More
For more than a thousand years, the paths of the Silk Road joined the distant empires of East Asia and the Mediterranean, forming a complex web of trade, pilgrimage and intellectual exchange between China, Central Asia, Persia, Tibet, India, the Near East and Europe. The manuscripts collected in this book provide a sense of the fruitful exchanges as well as bitter struggles in these regions over the centuries. More
The collection of Eva and Konrad Seitz is one of the most important private collections of Indian paintings in Europe. The 60 works presented here provides an excellent survey of Indian miniature painting from 1575 to 1850 at the court of the north Indian Mughal rulers and at the ateliers in the Deccan further south, which has hitherto received far less attention. More
Oriental manuscripts were produced literally in hundreds of languages and scripts, on a wide range of materials. These range from modest palm-leaf books to grand volumes published on paper produced for the Mughal Emperors. Among the many items included in this catalogue is a complete Tibetan scroll of the early 8th century from the Dun Huang, a Devimahatmya of the eleventh century, perhaps the oldest copy of this celebrated text to survive... More
Made from scraps and slivers of wood, ivory, bone, stag-antler and metal, netsuke developed from a simple utilitarian toggle worn at the belt into a fine art. Some of it made geniuses. This book brings together prime examples of these delightful treasures – a rare and perfectly formed horse by Masanao of Kyoto; an extraordinary Ashinaga and Tenaga by Totenko; a fine study of a running boar with a snake upon its back, a masterpiece by Naito Toyomasa. More
According to a 1754 inscription, the ruling Rajah Umed Singh of Chamba commissioned this extraordinarily ornate wooden temple, and two artists, Gurdev and Jhanda, carried out the work. Despite the difficulty of gaining access to the shrine, 2,300 m above sea level, the quality of these highly regarded reliefs is unique – nothing comparable in Chamba managed to withstand the fires and wars at the end of the 18th century. This book thoroughly publicises this important Hindu structure for the first time. More
Kannon, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, is probably Japan’s most popular Buddhist deity. Images of Kannon – who hears the cries for help of all beings in distress – are the main focus of worship in many Japanese temples. This exhibition catalogue presents an exceptional selection of the most beautiful sculptures and paintings from the 7th to the 14th century, some of which have never been seen before outside Japan or which are rarely accessible even to the Japanese public. More
Amongst the netsuke in this catalogue are many 18th-century rarities, including several large, mostly anonymous, figures in ivory and wood from Japanese legend, as well as important examples by Tametaka, Koyoken Yoshinaga, Tomotada and Masanao of Kyoto. Amongst masterpieces from the 19th century are four Otoman, two Ikkyu and a Tomokazu group of three rats. There are 17 ojime in various materials, many of them signed; pipecases of rare quality; some unusual spectacle cases; and inro in laquer and metal. The catalogue is rounded off by five extraordinary lacquer boxes by Ritsuo, the others by Koami Choko, Koma Kyuhaku and Oyama. More
This book examines how with the Japanese craftsman's intuitive sense of aesthetics and design the tsuba's utilitarian origins reached into the realms of fine art. The collection paints a picture of the Japanese tsubako, successfully representing both classic and everyday tsuba and fittings, work of the exacting levels demanded by the Daimyo and their samurai. More
Throughout the world, the art of printing has been intimately linked with religious practices. In the case of East Asia, printing technology evolved within the context of Buddhism, and its development was related to the acquisition of religious merit.
This catalogue surveys and illustrates the collection of Japanese religious prints formed by Manly Palmer Hall, founder of the Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles. More
There is an excitement to eccentric netsuke, and a dimension of an artistic personality and vision which raises these creations from the level of craft to art. The simple fact is that individual, experimental netsuke are much more difficult to understand than identifiable hack work – even great hack work – and are therefore much more gratifying when one does understand them. More
This extraordinary publication represents a landmark in both Tibetan studies and the art of bookmaking. It presents for the first time two magnificent eighteenth-century manuscripts illuminating in exquisite detail the essential but little-known practices of elemental divination as described in The White Beryl – an important seventeenth-century treatise written by Sangs-rgyas rGya-mtsho (1653–1705), the rekowned polymath who was regent to the Fifth Dalai Lama. More
The Museum Rietberg in Zurich possesses an old and important collection of Southeast Asian sculpture, but until now it has never been fully documented and analysed. It includes stone statues from the Cham culture of Vietnam, examples of which can otherwise only be seen in the Cham Museum in Da Nang and the Musée Guimet in Paris; sculptures of the Khmer from Cambodia which are among the earliest artefacts of this culture collected in Europe; and statues from Thailand and Indonesia. More
‘One Hundred Years of Beatitude’ surveys varied highlights of the Sydney L. Moss gallery’s idiosyncratic taste across aspects of mostly Edo period painting, calligraphy, sculpture, lacquer, netsuke and the smoking paraphernalia of ‘tonkotsu’ and ‘tabakoire’. It contains an unmistakable flavour of the Chinese influence and especially of a Confucian content in Japanese art, in both literary and socio-political regards. The survey begins with twenty-plus paintings and calligraphies. More
Around 1800, an anonymous engraver in Sharanakula, a small temple place on the southern coast of Orissa, illustrated a palm-leaf anthology of love poems. The one hundred Sanskrit quatrains, which are said to be the work of the 7th-century poet Amaru, describe the behaviour of enamoured couples, their longing for each other, the lovers’ anxieties, their ecstatic joy as well as their doubts and sorrows. More
This catalogue discusses and illustrates a wide variety of Chinese books, dating from the sixth to the nineteenth century -- some very rare. More
A comprehensive survey of the major schools and masters in 66 fine examples, this catalogue is an indication of the developing serious interest in netsuke. Several full-colour photographs of each work, taken from every useful angle, accompany educative and entertaining text. More
Endowed with a sharp eye, a brillant technique, and a refined sense for colours, Nainsukh is one of the most skilled artists of 18th century India. This brochure, meant to delight the eyes and the curiosity of general reader, informs about Nainsukh and his followers and shows thirty of their outstanding paintings which form the core of the Rietberg’s collection of Pahari paintings... More
