Exploring a high point in the cultural exchange between China and Japan, this volume presents forty masterpieces of the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties that made their way to Japanese collectors and museums. These paintings are significant as mirrors of the two cultures.
The book explores themes including the role of Japan in preserving a key parts of China's cultural and artistic heritage; the aspects of Japanese identity that derive from traditional Chinese culture; the use of Chinese paintings as models for key traditions of Japanese painting; and the use of Chinese paintings as status symbols in Japan.
Filled with exquisite reproductions, the book discusses each painting in depth, including its religious or secular narrative and provenance in China and Japan. Published in association with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.