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Hello

I am a first time visitor. I have inherited some Asian art pieces and I am starting to learn about this vast topic.

The pieces are rather varied from larger screens to paintings, porcelain, jade, items of clothing, miniatures as well as a few pieces of what appear to be carved ivory (I’ll upload a few images below once I’m sure they aren’t too big) even larger carved wooden lions, rugs (not positive which are middle eastern for example)

I am curious about what reference guides or websites may be recommended for someone to learn about this compelling field? I believe most of the items include both Chinese and Japanese provenance.

My goal for the moment is know how to properly name a given item, and ascertain the likely era /century and then what it intends to communicate artistically (any backstory, symbolism etc.)

I wouldn’t want to wear out the generosity of experts here posting each thing.

Thank you in advance

Paul

The first one looks like a Chinese carved ivory vase.
The second one also looks like chinese carved ivory statue. Both of these look early 20th Century.
The plaque is Japanese and could be either ivory or bone.
Your pictures are not the best.
Regards,
Mark@imperial
Adams Asian Art

thank you for taking time to share your knowledge. I will improve the photo quality as I become accustomed to the site.

best wishes

Dear Paul,
I would suggest some overview works that deal specifically with the art of East Asia. Many of the objects you mentioned seem to have their origins here. I'm travelling at the moment and unfortunately don't have access to my library right now. But I will give you some more general resources to start with. The Metropolitain Museum of Art has a nice timeline of all sorts of objects in the collection, and there are numerous essays on Asian art, culture and history.

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah

Specific to China, the book that comes to mind as an introduction to the subject is ‘China a history in objects’:

https://www.britishmuseumshoponline.org/gifts/china-a-history-in-objects.html

You might want to start with that.

For Chinese ceramics, Valenstein's ‘A handbook of Chinese ceramics’ from 1988 is still very good as a starter.

For ceramics from China and Asia, you can also refer to

https://www.gotheborg.com/. There are also numerous other literature recommendations here.

You can also learn a lot from auction catalogues and museum exhibition catalogues. The big museums are generally good places to go for information.
If you are looking for more specific object groups, you can continue writing here. I will try to expand on literature to specific items/countries then. It would be nice if we all could continuously expand the list in the forum and sort it by subject area. Until then, I hope that the few recommendations that I have come up with of the top of my head will help you.

Best wishes and happy reading!

Madria

thank you very much for your input. I will consult those materials and do some research.

best wishes

Paul

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