Chinese Domestic Furniture in Photographs and Measured Drawings by Gustav Ecke Paperback (1986)

Reviewer: Livio W. Cillo III
Very few books on furniture - Chinese or otherwise - do as successful a job. Not only is the history discussed and the pages well illustrated (in black and white), but timeless scholarly discourse is offered and revealing disective drawings provided. This is a must and you will see how the author has laid the foundation for more recent works on the subject since it has become vogue. October 15, 1998

Classic Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties by Shixiang Wang Hardcover (1991)

Written by an authoritative furniture historian, Wang Shixiang, this book provides beautiful color plates, basic knowledge, and detailed descriptions of many important pieces.

Beyond the Screen: Chinese Furniture of the 16th & 17th Centuries by Nancy Berliner, Craig Clunas, Boston Museum of Fine Arts Hardcover (1996)

Reviewer: A reader from US, 2000
BEYOND THE SCREEN is an apt title; it describes this book both literally and metaphorically. Nancy Berliner and fourcontributing writers dissect both the life and furniture of sixtheen and seventeenth China in a work that combines art, craft and social history. My husband, an amateur woodworker, was fascinated with descriptions of workmanship and digrams of joinery. I preferred the sections that talked about the people -- both the craftsmen (usually anonymous) that made the furniture and the elite who commissioned it. But the focus point of the book is undoubtedly the photographs of the furniture itself -- some pieces which are classically simple, others that are intricately carved. Berliner comments at length on each piece.  For collectors of antique Chinese furniture -- or reproductions -- this book is an absolute must-have. It gives the story behind the craft and makes sitting down so much more interesting!

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