True to Form: Chinese Craftsmen

Chinese craftsmen have worked with clay, wood, bamboo, paper, cloth, stone and even gourd to bring humble utilitarian objects to the level of art. The appeal of these objects to the collector - whether birdcage or basket, box or brushpot, plate or bowl, comb or pipe, shadow puppet or wood block print – transcends simple nostalgia, lying as it does in their intrinsic beauty and vitality as much as in the fact that, transmitted from father to son, the skills with which they have been so finely wrought are in danger of perishing. This lavish collection of photographs celebrates the art of the Chinese craftsman.