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.

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.