In this collection of essays, five previously published and three new in
this volume, a western historian of Chinese art examines the received
ideas of art history from the vantage point of another culture. On the
premise that what we feel a need to explain and how we explain it alike
depend on what we assume to be normal, the essays all adopt a
comparative approach. Whatever body of material is taken as case
study--Gothic churches, Egyptian reliefs, Chinese bronzes, Insular
gospel manuscripts--the problems addressed are of broad general
relevance to the discipline. They include the nature of art history's
styles and periods, iconography as explanation, the rationale for art
historical description, technical studies and the artistic imagination,
and histories of representation. Clear and accessible, this book will
interest anyone concerned with the conduct of art historical scholarship
and the origins and consequences of its practices.