This account of Chinese art attempts to bridge the gap of values of Chinese and European artistic traditions. The author discards the historical approach that tended to obscure basic analogies in Chinese and Western art. Instead his thesis embraces all varieties, whether in painting and sculpture, pottery, jade, porcelain or textiles. The categories of artistic invention, period taste, archaism and psychological quality are grouped under the broad headings of hieratic, realistic and decorative, with illustrations linking closely with arguments.--Back cover