For centuries Chinese ceramics have been the objects most coveted in the West by collectors with an interest in the arts of Asia. The extraordinary innovations of Chinese potters court among the most outstanding accomplishments in the cultural heritage of the world since the Neolithic era.

Systematic study of Chinese ceramics, begun in the eighteenth century with the French Jesuit Pere d'Entrecolles, has been greatly enlarged in the twentieth century, and since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, extensive excavations at kiln sites have yielded invaluable new insights into the chronological development of ceramic forms, glaze types and decorative styles.

This remarkable book cites all the latest scientific and archaeological evidence, examining provenance, technique, archaeological and historical context, and ancient traditions of Chinese connoisseurship and patronage to provide an integrated and highly detailed approach to the subject. In over 700 color photographs specially taken for this book, a wide range of imperial and regional, decorative and practical, export and domestic, ceremonial and funerary wares are fully represented.