The Complete Chinese Ornament: All 100 Color Plates

By Owen Jones

This sumptuous edition offers all 100 full-color plates from Owen Jones's definitive presentation of Chinese ornamentation and design, one of the most beautiful books on the decorative arts ever published. Now, over a centruy after its first publication, this remarkable work continues to provide an excellent, copyright-free source of authentic Chinese design and motifs.
During the vast political tumult in China in the 19th century, many of the most exquisite examples of native art from the Ming, Ch'ing and earlier dynasties were spirited out of the country and sold into Western collections. One of the most spectacular of these assemblages was housed at London's South Kensington Museum (today The Victoria and Albert Museum). In the 1860s, the noted English designer and architect Owen Jones studed this collection in depth, particularly the wealth of superb examples of porcelain and cloisonné. He then meticulously rendered many of the most intriguing and beautiful designs in full color. These were published in his celebrated book, Examples of Chinese Ornament Selected from Objects in the South Kensington Museum and Other Collections (1867).
This volume offers painstaking reproductions of all one hundred original color plates from that work, which delighted the art world of the time and exerted a profound influence on the subsequent history of Western design. Now that visual inspiration is once again available to artists, illustrators, designers, and craftspeople in this inexpensive high-quality edition. Moreover, any lover of fine art can enjoy the book as a splendid tribute to the glories of Chinese design—at a price far less than those commanded by extremely rare surviving copies of Jones's original work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Aug 2, 2012
• ISBN: 9780486155500

Owen Jones

Author Owen Jones, from Barry, South Wales, came to writing novels relatively recently, although he has been writing all his adult life. He has lived and worked in several countries and travelled in many, many more. He speaks, or has spoken, seven languages fluently and is currently learning Thai, since he lived in Thailand with his Thai wife of ten years. "It has never taken me long to learn a language," he says, "but Thai bears no relationship to any other language I have ever studied before." When asked about his style of writing, he said, "I'm a Celt, and we are Romantic. I believe in reincarnation and lots more besides in that vein. Those beliefs, like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around', Fate and Karma are central to my life, so they are reflected in my work'. His first novel, 'Daddy's Hobby' from the series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya' has become the classic novel on Pattaya bar girls and has been followed by six sequels. However, his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a young teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. After fifteen years of travelling, Owen and his wife are now back in his home town. He sums up his style as: "I write about what I see... or think I see... or dream... and in the end, it's all the same really..."

Book preview

DOVER PICTORIAL ARCHIVE SERIES

ART DECO JEWELRY DESIGNS IN FULL COLOR, Idées-Paris. (27694-5)

381 OLD-FASHIONED HOLIDAY VIGNETTES IN FULL COLOR, Carol Belanger Grafton (ed.). (27686–4)

1,001 ADVERTISING CUTS FROM THE TWENTIES AND THIRTIES, Leslie Cabarga et al. (ed.). (25490-9)

TRADITIONAL JAPANESE DESIGN MOTIFS, Joseph D’Addetta. (24629-9)

BORDERS, FRAMES AND DECORATIVE MOTIFS FROM THE 1862 DERRIEY TYPOGRAPHIC CATALOG, Charles Derriey. (25322-8)

THE ENSCHEDE CATALOG OF TYPOGRAPHIC BORDERS AND ORNAMENTS: AN UNABRIDGED REPRINT OF THE CLASSIC 1891 EDITION, John Enschede and Sons. (25172-1)

ART NOUVEAU: AN ANTHOLOGY OF DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION FROM THE STUDIO, selected by Edmund V. Gillon, Jr. (22388-4)

PICTURE SOURCEBOOK FOR COLLAGE AND DECOUPAGE, Edmund V. Gillon, Jr. (ed.). (23095-3)

DECORATIVE TILE DESIGNS IN FULL COLOR, Carol Belanger Grafton (ed.). (26952-3)

MORE SILHOUETTES, Carol Belanger Grafton (ed.). (24256-0)

OLD-TIME VIGNETTES IN FULL COLOR,

Reviews for The Complete Chinese Ornament

[Martha Claudia López Mendoza · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

El arte chino es uno de los más hermosos del mundo❤