A Collection of Chinese Art Archaeological Documents

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Over the past century, an endless stream of archaeological discoveries has provided significant support to the emerging discipline of art history. These discoveries have not only altered the foundation of Chinese art history studies, but also expanded its temporal-spatial scope. Additionally, they have encouraged the introduction of new methodologies and concepts, enabling the transformation of narrative frameworks. Archaeologists are also drawing inspiration from the rapid changes in the field of art history, as art archaeology has emerged as a bridge that connects and facilitates the exchange of ideas, fostering a dynamic environment for theoretical development. 

Despite the varying understandings and positionings of art archaeology within the fields of archaeology and art history, the overall progress of research is not hindered. Scholars do not get entangled in the concept itself, but proceed from specific analyses with abundant and diverse materials. By integrating the strengths of both archaeology and art history, they have developed the conceptual framework of art archaeology and have achieved significant progress in the past few decades. Consequently, art archaeology has indeed become an academic growth point with Chinese characteristics, and will inevitably grow into a prominent contemporary discipline.

A Collection of Chinese Art Archaeological Documents, under the chief editorship of Wang Xiaoyang, a professor from the School of Art at Southeast University, among others, is both an overview of Chinese art archaeology and an integration of available data. 

The book aims at the most representative and systematic fields of Chinese art archaeology, including tomb mural archaeology, Buddhist art archaeology, and Taoist art archaeology. They are undoubtedly the major fields in recent years where archaeology and art history intersect most closely and intensively. The collection demonstrates foresight in that it takes into account marine art archaeology that is still under development.

The materials of the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, as well as ancient artifacts, cities, and architecture are also of common concern to the two disciplines. However, the research scope and methodology of art archaeology in this field are still unclear and immature. Therefore, it is appropriate to exclude it from the current stage of study.

The collection includes over 2,000 archaeological discoveries of the 70 years from 1949 to 2019, compiled by provinces and municipalities in the order of the publication of archaeological reports. The related introduction covers a variety of aspects such as the investigation and excavation times, the remains’ age, sites, forms, and content, as well as illustrations. By adopting this approach, a relatively comprehensive literature system of art archaeology has been established in its preliminary form.

Zheng Yan is a professor from the School of Arts at Peking University.

Edited by YANG LANLAN