Description:
This book has been read, no wear to covers, some wear to dust cover, previous owner signed inner page. No other markings inner pages, spine intact, no creases."Reading catalogues is not usually my thing, but I made an exception for this one because it has a long and interesting introduction about the state of Chinese archaeology back over 45 years ago. Published in 1973, it tells how grave robbers and wildcat "explorers" used to rip off China's ancient treasures and sell them to collectors, thus ensuring that nobody would know where they came from and what surrounded them (called "provenance" in the trade it seems). After the Revolution in 1949-50, all the chaos came to a stop and Chinese scholars began to publish work on their findings. The things they found were carefully put in museums. Contrary to public belief, the museums were not destroyed during the Cultural Revolution of 1966-75 and some archaeologists even kept working. There are 121 black and white plates in the catalogue section, each… Read More
