The Scholars' Treasury.
| N° d'inventaire | 23162 |
| Format | 25 x 27.5 |
| Détails | 223 p., bound in cloth under dust jacket. |
| Publication | Paris, 2010 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782742788880 |
Throughout the Chinese Empire, the scholar, a man of culture and power, surrounded himself with utensils, rich or cleverly humble, which formed the support of his dream or the intimate friends of his reasoning, before becoming objects of desire and collection. Ink, stone, brush, paper are, very early, designated by the expression wenfang si bao, the "four treasures of the scholar." Surrounding them is a small world of accessories - paperweight, water jug, brush pot, ink stick holder, wrist rest, etc. - which are all artisanal masterpieces whose delicacy has been enriched and diversified in China, then in Japan, over the millennia. not content with having invented paper and indelible ink. as well as this versatile instrument of genius that is the brush, China ensures its longevity by imperturbably making them according to ancestral and refined recipes. But, since the 1990s, the decline of learned craftsmanship seems to have begun, already noted in Japan. This book therefore rushes to visit the workshops still active in order to note in detail the gestures, to describe the know-how, at the same time as it wanders through the great aristocratic and imperial collections to which this production gave rise, almost never exhibited in the museums that hold them today... without forgetting to take a look at the astronomical sale prices achieved by the most beautiful of these objects in the squares of Hong Kong, New York or London. The Treasury of the Learned is indeed the book that connoisseurs, lovers of curiosities and all those fascinated by the culture of the Far East have been waiting for. But not only. After accumulating information for more than thirty years on the techniques, history, and styles that make up the richness of Chinese and Japanese stationery, the author reveals here all his secrets, including the most precious: because the composition of calligraphy and painting objects is based strictly on natural materials, the connoisseur who handles them sees in them a key to the relationship between man and the universe, this notion of general harmony that is the foundation of Far Eastern thought. Ink, stone, brush, and paper, as well as all the accessories that surround them, have been called "treasures" for a very long time. This book tells us that this was doubly true.
Throughout the Chinese Empire, the scholar, a man of culture and power, surrounded himself with utensils, rich or cleverly humble, which formed the support of his dream or the intimate friends of his reasoning, before becoming objects of desire and collection. Ink, stone, brush, paper are, very early, designated by the expression wenfang si bao, the "four treasures of the scholar." Surrounding them is a small world of accessories - paperweight, water jug, brush pot, ink stick holder, wrist rest, etc. - which are all artisanal masterpieces whose delicacy has been enriched and diversified in China, then in Japan, over the millennia. not content with having invented paper and indelible ink. as well as this versatile instrument of genius that is the brush, China ensures its longevity by imperturbably making them according to ancestral and refined recipes. But, since the 1990s, the decline of learned craftsmanship seems to have begun, already noted in Japan. This book therefore rushes to visit the workshops still active in order to note in detail the gestures, to describe the know-how, at the same time as it wanders through the great aristocratic and imperial collections to which this production gave rise, almost never exhibited in the museums that hold them today... without forgetting to take a look at the astronomical sale prices achieved by the most beautiful of these objects in the squares of Hong Kong, New York or London. The Treasury of the Learned is indeed the book that connoisseurs, lovers of curiosities and all those fascinated by the culture of the Far East have been waiting for. But not only. After accumulating information for more than thirty years on the techniques, history, and styles that make up the richness of Chinese and Japanese stationery, the author reveals here all his secrets, including the most precious: because the composition of calligraphy and painting objects is based strictly on natural materials, the connoisseur who handles them sees in them a key to the relationship between man and the universe, this notion of general harmony that is the foundation of Far Eastern thought. Ink, stone, brush, and paper, as well as all the accessories that surround them, have been called "treasures" for a very long time. This book tells us that this was doubly true.