Floyd Sully, a Canadian collector fascinated by practical yet beautiful representations of China, laboured over 15 years to assemble this beautiful collection focused on maps, documentary paintings, and illustrated texts. It features works produced inside China and abroad that were created for both Chinese and Western viewers. This publication explores important dimensions of Chinese visual culture and offers a diverse and telling set of perspectives on the Chinese world as it underwent a process of profound transformation spanning five centuries of artistic production through to modern times.
Walter Davis is an assistant professor in the Department of Art and Design and the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Alberta.
"Dealing with a highly original topic, this catalog showcases original materials rarely seen in a library and museum setting: 16th to 18th century Chinese manuscripts, and hand-colored woodblock prints," said Cherry Williams, chair of the RBMS Exhibition Awards committee and curator of manuscripts at Indiana University. "Its rich information content, with extensive, well-written notes composed by curator Walter Davis, has intellectual depth and constitutes a contribution to scholarship on the subject of early Chinese history and culture. In addition, the curators narrowed the choices well, resulting in a spectacular choice of items; each item is unusual, visually interesting and stunning in appearance." -- Jury comments, 2014 Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab -- "American Book Prices Current" Exhibition Awards, 20141001
American Library Association, Leab Exhibition Award (2014) - Winner [United States]