June 2008

 These are books that I  have very likely  used in recent research.

 Straits Chinese Furniture,  A Collector’s Guide, by Ho Wing Meng, Singapore 1996. So much of the furniture and carvings we see in this country today originated not in mainland China but in Malaysia, Malacca and other areas in Asia where Chinese have settled many centuries ago. I am sure you have seen the heavily inlaid mother-of-pearl arm chair or the red and gilt lacquered cabinet. Equally interesting is

 Straits Chinese Porcelain, A Collector’s Guide, by Ho Wing Meng, Singapore, 1983, discussing the ceramics used by the Straits Chinese.

 Worshipping the Ancestors – Chinese Commemorative Portraits, by Ian Stuart and Evelyn S. Rawski, published by the Freer to accompany a 2001 exhibit. We all have seen ancestor portraits, real ones and 20^th century “renditions”.

 And recently I have come across many  Chinese album leaf paintings depicting scenes from daily life in China – rituals, street entertainment, officials, punishments.  19^th Century Paintings of Life In China, by K.Y. Solonin, St. Petersburg, 1995 illustrates such paintings.

 For Chinese silver,  H. A. Crosby Forbes’  Chinese Export Silver 1985-1885 is always a  wonderful resource.

 Raymond Bushell’s book on  Netsuke Masks, 1985/1995 deals with a very interesting specialty.

 And you have probably come across a Yoshida print and would enjoy   A Japanese Legacy – Four Generations of Yoshida Family Artists published by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2002.

 For textile collectors,  Indian Ikat Textiles by Rosemary Crill, New York, 1998 should be of interest as well as Living Fabric: Weaving Among The Nomads of Ladakh Himalaya by Manisha Ahmed, Trumbull 2002.

 With the renewed interest in and access to Central Asia, Aurel Stein On The Silk Road by Susan Whitfield, Chicago 2004 is a helpful book.

 And you may have seen  colorful Tibetan chests – a new book Wooden Wonders: Tibetan Furniture in Secular and Religious Life, Chicago 2004 deals with this subject.