Chinese Antiques and Art Reference Books, Including Pottery, Porcelains, Bronzes and Jades

Chinese Antiques and Art Reference Books

FREE REFERENCE BOOKS Online

Chinese Antiques and Art Reference Books from the 19th C. onward.

On this page is a list of links attached to full-screen Flip Book catalogs for Asian art exhibition catlaogs published by a variety of sellers and dealers, all terrific and wonderful.

During the late 19th C. Chinese antiques and art reference books were published with what was then thought to be the complete history of Asian art. Since then technology, excavations, and newly re-discovered ancient texts have cause numerous revisions to what once considered settled history.  Despite this mountain of newly found information, much of what was known remains firmly intact.

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Robert Hall, an auction of Fine Snuff Bottles, 1991 Boston, Massachusetts

DEALER and MUSEUM Exhibition Catalogs

MARCHANT exhibition catalog May 2014

MARCHANT exhibition catalog Chinese Export Porcelain, 2015

MARCHANT exhibition Ninety Years for 90 Jades, 2015

J.J. Lally Exhibition "Chinese White Wares" the Langsdorf Collection 2015

The Metropolitan Museum, 2005, Defining Yongle Imperial Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Spirit and Ritual The Morse Collection, 1982

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Ernest Erickson Collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, East Asian Lacquer, The Irving Collection

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and below here...

Free Early reference books and old catalogues to peruse!

NOTE: All of the books linked here are embedded as enlargeable to full screen Flip Books. 

CLICK on any of the titles below to see and browse each of the books. Many are illustrated. The first is a modern volume from the J.P. Getty Museum.

1. Mounted Oriental Porcelain In the Getty Museum

• A wide variety of ceramic wares—English, French, German, and Italian—from the Near and Far East, as well as vessels of glass, rock crystal, and hardstones, have been enriched with metal mounts in the course of European history. However, the collection catalogued here consists almost exclusively of Chinese and Japanese porcelains mounted in Paris during the reigns of Louis xiv (1643 -1715) and Louis xv (1715-1774). In the majority of cases, the mounts date from around the two middle decades of the eighteenth century.

2. Chinese Song to Qing Dynasty Ceramics and Porcelains  by Captain Brinkley

• Note this book was part of a series published in 1902 by J.B. Millet & Co. Below is an excerpt from the the original text as well as an enlargeable Flip Book of the entire volume with illustrations. Its a great look back at how Chinese Song to Qing dynasty ceramics and porcelains were viewed in the west over 100 years ago.

3. A Catalogue of an Exhibition of Chinese Applied Art

• OF AN EXHIBITION OF CATALOGUE CHINESE APPLIED ART BRONZES POTTERY PORCELAINS  JADES EMBROIDERIES  CARPETS ENAMELS  LACQUERS Etc.. CITY OF MANCHESTER ART GALLERY_/ 1913, MANCHESTER.

4. Early Chinese Porcelain In Hyderbad India

• Porcelain was widely used in India long before it became known in Europe, and was used in Persia before it was used in India. Since very early times there must have been an extensive trade between Persia and China, by the overland route, and in this connection the recent explorations of Dr. Stein are of great importance. Gulland quotes an interesting reference in Hutchin’s History of Dorset concerning the “Trenchard ” bowl, a piece of green porcelain, presented to Sir Thomas Trenchard by Phillip of Austria in 1506 A.D. ” To whom on leaving, the King presented some bowls of oriental china. These were then great rarities, as they must have passed the desert on the backs of camels. The Cape of Good Hope not having been colonised at that time.”

5. Chinese Pottery and Porcelain By Hobson Vols I & II

• PORCELAIN CHINESE and POTTERY AN ACCOUNT OF THE POTTER’S ART IN CHINA FROM PRIMITIVE TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY. Two classics on the topic of Chinese antiques and Art reference books.
• By
  1. L. HOBSON, B.A.
  2. Robert Lockhart Hobson (1873-1941)

6. CATALOGUE OF THE MORGAN COLLECTION OF CHINESE PORCELAINS

• BY STEPHEN W. BUSHELL AND WILLIAM M. LAFFAN. THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART NEW YORK. COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY ROBERT GRIER COOKE COPYRIGHT, 1907,BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
• PREFACE TO THIS EDITION of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelain
  The purpose of the present catalogue is to afford to those interested in the subject of Chinese porcelain an opportunity to study the objects exhibited in the Morgan Collection in the light of the latest knowledge that is to be had on the subject. The collection is the most comprehensive that is known, and it has been described as succinctly and lucidly as appeared pos­sible, and without any technicalities that could be avoided.HIS work has been made available to visitors by the aid of Dr. Stephen W. Bushell, C.M.G., the eminent Oriental scholar and sinologue, who has revised (1906) the original catalogue of Mr. Morgan’s collection, privately printed in a limited edition. Dr. Bushell has also written an introductory article on the general subject of Chinese porcelain and its history, similar to his Chinese Art, in the South Kensington Museum series, and it will be found to con­tain a short and authoritative account of the industry from the earliest times to the present day.

7. The A.W. Bahr Collection of Chinese Porcelain

• Antique Chinese Porcelains, Pottery, Jades, Screens, Paintings on Glass,Rugs, Carpets AND MANY OTHER OBJECTS OF ART AND ANTIQUITY FORMED BY A. W. BAHR. The sale catalogue odf the A.W. Bahr Collection of Chinese Porcelain

• THE WELL-KNOWN CONNOISSEUR AND AUTHORITY ON THE ANCIENT ARTS OF CHINA. This remarkable Collection of Chinese Art Objects has been made by Mr. A. W. Bahr, formerly of Shanghai, who is well known as a connoisseur and authority on Chinese Art. It represents the result of many years patient accumulation and selection, almost every piece having some distinctive merit whether it be form, color or design.

8. The Taft Collection of Rare Chinese Porcelains

• This was book originally Published in 1904 of an outstanding collection of Chinese porcelains from the Taft family of Cincinnati Ohio. The Taft collection of rare Chinese porcelains consists primarily of blue and white, blanc de chine, famile verte and monochrome examples dating to the Kangxi period. Additionally the volume contains some superb examples from the Yongzheng and Qianlong period. In total are over 110 illustrated examples.
• At the end of the Taft collection of rare Chinese porcelains in the back of the book has is an extensive and useful glossary of terminology used within the book.
• A CATALOGUE OF CHINESE PORCELAINS COLLECTED By MR. AND MRS. CHARLES P. TAFT CINCINNATI, OHIO WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS COMPILED AND DESCRIBED BY
  JOHN GETZ

9. Hobson THE ART OF THE CHINESE POTTER

• The Art of the Chinese Potter, the original introduction. Many students and collectors of Chinese pottery and porcelain find greater help from examination of good illustrations of the wares which delight them than they gain from reading detailed descrip­tions. So far as the later wares of China are concerned, and by that term we mean the examples produced after the close of the Ming dynasty in the middle of the 17th century, several volumes of plates have been produced. But apart from the illustrations accompanying the descriptive accounts of the pre-Ming and Ming wares, there is a dearth of informative reproductions of the work of the earlier potters.

10. Yamanaka Auction Catalog of Chinese Antiques

• YAMANAKA Auction  OF CHINESE AND JAPANESE TREASURES OF RARE ARTISTIC DISTINCTION UNRESTRICTED PUBLIC SALE AT THE AMERICAN ART GALLERIES ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY AFTERNOONS FEBRUARY 7th AND 8th, 1916 BEGINNING EACH AFTERNOON AT 2.30 O’CLOCK AND ON TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 8th AT 8 O’CLOCK.

11. The Altman Collection of Chinese Porcelain

• A brief look at the collecting habits of Benjamin Altman of not only Asian works of art, but many other categories as well.Altman began collecting art in 1882, when he purchased a fine pair of Chinese enamel vases that reportedly cost only thirty-five dollars (worth approximately $770 in 2010). However, according to the New York Times, by the time of his death Altman’s estimated fifteen million dollar (worth approximately 340 million in 2010) art collection comprised “one of the finest private collections of paintings and porcelain in existence.” Altman acquired most of his collection through the services of prominent art dealer Joseph Duveen. He made an almost weekly habit of visiting with Duveen at his art gallery on Saturday evenings after the close of business, and Altman helped Duveen relocate his business to 302 Fifth Avenue around the turn of the century. Altman eventually bequeathed all of his thirteen Rembrandts and paintings by other renowned artists such as Holbein, Botticelli, Hals, Velazquez, van Dyck, and Giorgione, a total of seventy-five old masters, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also left a monetary legacy of $100,000 (worth approximately $2.3 million in 2010) to the National Academy of Design to support American artists. In addition, the Metropolitan received his rare collection of ivories, jades, carved crystal vessels, sculptures, Renaissance tapestries, and silk Persian and Indian rugs. Altogether he left around 1,000 items to the museum.  A few days after Altman’s death, the director of the Metropolitan called Altman’s magnanimous art bequest: “The most splendid gift any citizen has ever made to the people of the city of New York.”  The Altman collection of Chinese porcelain was one of the greatest gifts to the Metropolitan Museumthroughout it’s history.

11. Yue Ware of Southern China, By Regina Krahl

• Yue Wares  are the world’s oldest ceramics that are hard, dense, and durable—the ultimate predecessors of porcelain. China is unique in its development of these stonewares, which preceded any comparable products in the West by almost 3,000 years. The igneous rocks and volcanic ashes left in particular in the southeastern provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong from volcanic activity some 140 million years ago constitute highly suitable raw materials for producing such wares. They often can be used more or less as mined or can be easily processed by levigation, in which coarse particles are sifted out.¹

12. Chinese Late Ming Porcelain and Trade

• The Interactions between Chinese Export Ceramics and Their Foreign ‘Markets’: The
  Stories in Late Ming DynastyBy Wang Guanyu, Peking University

13.  Chinese Qing Porcelains the George Davies Collection

• Collection of Old Chinese Qing Porcelains formed by GEORGE R. DAVIES, Esc/. Formerly of Hartford, Cheshire,
  and now of Parton, N.B. A selection of full page images of select Chinese Qing Porcelains from the collection of George R. Davies.  The catalog shown below was published in 1913 after the Davies collection was purchased by the controversial dealer Edgar GORER  for a reported 220,000 pounds and was exhibited at the exclusive Dreicer & Co in New York City at 560 Fifth Avenue. The exhibition and sale drew enormous controversy including some outspoken criticism from the legendary James Henry Duveen, resulting in a lawsuit from Gorer, demanding $75,000 in damages.

14. Marchant Exhibition of Chinese Ceramics May 2014

• In May of 2014 an exhibition of Chinese ceramics was conducted at Marchant of 120 Kensington Church Street, London. The show and sale comprised fifty eight exceptional examples of Chinese ceramics dating from the Tang to Qing Dynasty. The objects represented were from 26 collections across the globe provenanced to what are nearly house-hold names in the world of Asian art.

15. MARCHANT Exhibition Catalog of Chinese Export Porcelain, 2015

• MARCHANTS, the venerable and renowned London dealer of Asian Art celebrated their 90th Anniversary this past May with an exhibition of fine 18th C. Chinese export porcelain made for the west.  The show and sale began on May 7th, 2015 and ended that month of the 24th.

16  J.J. Lally A Collection of Tang to Liao White Wares

• As one would expect from New York’s preeminent dealer of Asian and Chinese works of art, when James Lally decides to undertake an exhibition, the results and quality will be nothing less than exceptional. His recent showing of glazed Tang to Liao white wares from the superb Ronald W. Longsdorf collection was everything you’d expect. The show consisted of 27 exceptional examples made primarily during the Tang, Five-Dynasties, Sui, Jin , Song and Liao dynasties produced at the Ding and other related kilns.