Overview

Sensuous Surfaces is a richly illustrated and in-depth introduction to the decorative arts in Ming- and Qing-dynasty China. Jonathan Hay explores materials and techniques, as well as issues of patronage and taste, which together formed a loose system of informal rules that affected every level of decoration in early modern China, from an individual object to the arrangement of an entire residential interior. By engaging the actual and metaphoric potential of surface, Hay contends, this system guided the production and use of the decorative arts during a period of explosive growth, which started in the late sixteenth century and continued until the mid-nineteenth century. This understanding of decorative arts in China made a fundamental contribution to the sensory education of its early modern urban population, both as individuals and in their established social roles. Sensuous Surfaces is also an elegant meditation on the role of pleasure in decoration. Often intellectually dismissed as merely pleasurable, Hay argues that decoration is better understood as a necessary form of art that can fulfill its function only by engaging the human capacity for erotic response. Featuring 250 color images of a wide range of early modern Chinese objects and artworks, this book will engage anyone with an interest in decoration, art, China--or the experience of pleasure itself.

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9780824833619

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Reviews

Jonathan Hay s new book must be applauded for being the first meticulous micro-investigation, which extends research boundaries inward, taking as its focus decorative objects, including ceramics, jade, textiles, ink stones, carvings, accessories, and even frames or stands. Such objects, often categorized as craft, have been mainly celebrated in museum exhibitions and their catalogues; they have barely been touched on as a primary material in any serious research in the history of Chinese art. But the true originality of Hay s research lies in the way he treats the physical appearance and display of individual decorative objects (e.g., their shape, materials, color, or texture) as a kind of receptacle and conduit of their viewers appreciation and the cultural debates or protocols around them that engaged people and were shared across early modern China. . . . This book was a delightful discovery . . . even experienced sinologists and historians of East Asian art will appreciate its wide-ranging knowledge and the sharp-edged terminology developed in the course of its analysis.-- <i>The Journal of Asian Studies</i>

Jonathan Hay's new book must be applauded for being the first meticulous micro-investigation, which extends research boundaries inward, taking as its focus decorative objects, including ceramics, jade, textiles, ink stones, carvings, accessories, and even frames or stands. Such objects, often categorized as craft, have been mainly celebrated in museum exhibitions and their catalogues; they have barely been touched on as a primary material in any serious research in the history of Chinese art. But the true originality of Hay's research lies in the way he treats the physical appearance and display of individual decorative objects (e.g., their shape, materials, color, or texture) as a kind of receptacle and conduit of their viewers' appreciation and the cultural debates or protocols around them that engaged people and were shared across early modern China. . . . This book was a delightful discovery . . . even experienced sinologists and historians of East Asian art will appreciate its wide-ranging knowledge and the sharp-edged terminology developed in the course of its analysis.-- <i>The Journal of Asian Studies</i>

Author Information

Jonathan Hay is Ailsa Mellon Bruce Professor of Fine Arts at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

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