Bronze and Stone

"Dense with detail and illustrations, this study will appeal primarily to social and art historians, museum curators, or graduate-student audiences, but also bears relevance for scholars investigating the Chinese face of the field of material culture studies."

"[T]his book offers fascinating interdisciplinary research on a cultural movement that engaged people from different classes of the Song society. Its novel way of intertwining intellectual history with material culture is a remarkable attempt to demonstrate the contribution that the study of art history can have to scholarship on other aspects of Song society."

"Bronze and Stone makes a valuable contribution to the study of Song visual and material culture, and its richly detailed contents should be read by all specialists."

"[T]he book opens up many avenues for understanding how antiquarianism permeated the intellectual and aesthetic lives of Song people—a small minority of elite collectors, at first, but in time a broader and more diverse group of people."

"[A]fine piece of work characterized by its analytical insight and interdisciplinary approach. It deserves to be read by anyone interested in the cultural and intellectual history of China. It will stand out for many years to come as an important addition to studies of Song cultural history."

"Bronze and Stone deserves to attract a wide range of readers interested in the antiquarian movement, literati culture, material culture, art history, archeology, and intellectual history. It provides an outstanding panoramic view of the Song-dynasty study of metal and stone with an interdisciplinary approach and a comparative perspective on world antiquarianism."

"Provides a new perspective for re-understanding the development of Song epigraphy and literati activities."

"A complex and sophisticated perspective on the Song that relates visual materials to the main trends in the intellectual history of the period. A welcome step toward a historically and culturally contextualized approach to material culture."

"A major contribution to the China field and to comparative studies of antiquarianism and material culture across world regions."

"An important addition to the historiography of antiquarianism at large, this book offers rich new insights into the collecting practices of the first Chinese antiquaries and their impact on the material culture of the Song dynasty."