For centuries, the art and culture of China and Japan have exerted aparticular fascination on the West. Items from Imperial China once filledthe porcelain cabinets of European courts, and Japanese painting and woodcarving made their way to Europe in the nineteenth century. The impressive illustrations in this volume present the reader with the uniquewealth of art forms in China and Japan, forms which have also exertedtremendous influence on Western art: artful ceramics, wood carvings, smalls culptures and bronzes, porcelains and ink drawings from China and from Japan, temple districts, imperial villas and Zen gardens, ukiyo paintingsof the Edo period, the famed No masques, as well as precious textiles andcostumes. These are only a few of the many aspects selected by the authorsto convey the wealth and unbelievable variety of artistic forms of East Asia. An illustrated glossary and extensive bibliography complete the book.