Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China

Now in paperback

This outstanding and original book, presented here with a new preface, examines the history of material culture in early modern China. Craig Clunas analyzes "superfluous things"--the paintings, calligraphy, bronzes, ceramics, carved jade, and other objects owned by the elites of Ming China--and describes contemporary attitudes to them. He informs his discussions with reference to both socio-cultural theory and current debates on eighteenth-century England concerning luxury, conspicuous consumption, and the growth of the consumer society.

Author: Craig Clunas
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Published: 05/31/2004
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.89lbs
Size: 9.04h x 6.22w x 0.59d
ISBN: 9780824828202

About the Author
Clunas, Craig: - Craig Clunas is Percival David Chair of Chinese Art at SOAS, London, and the author of Superfluous Things, Fruitful Sites: Garden Culture in Ming Dynasty China, Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China, and Art in China.