130 - JAPAN — CHINA — FAR EASTERN ART

JAPAN — CHINA — FAR EASTERN ART KÜMMEL (Otto). — The Art of East Asia. Berlin, Bruno Cassirer Verlag, 1921. Large quarto, [6]-48 pp., 168 plates and 5 illustrations in the text, publisher’s illustrated cardboard binding, cloth spine. First edition, constituting Volume IV of the series *Die Kunst des Ostens*, published under the direction of William Cohn. The collation is clearly confirmed by the digitized copy held by Heidelberg University: 48 pages of text followed by plates 1 through 168. An important overview by Otto Kümmel (1874–1952) devoted to the arts of the Far East, primarily China and Japan, and lavishly illustrated with works from major European and Asian collections. The book devotes significant attention to Buddhist art, Chinese sculpture and painting, and then to the development of Japanese arts: Buddhist statuary, religious architecture, silk painting, Zen painting, decorative arts, lacquerware, bronzes, and furnishings. The final sections focus in particular on the Japanese pictorial tradition and the masters associated with Zen. The iconographic material, which was particularly extensive for its time, is one of the book’s main attractions. Published by Bruno Cassirer, this volume is part of an ambitious German series devoted to the arts of the East; a 1923 review specifically highlighted the quality of this series, in which the critical text held its own importance alongside the reproductions. This copy is preserved in its original illustrated cardboard slipcase, adorned on the front cover with a Far Eastern-inspired horse. The binding is worn and soiled, with scuffing, small stains, and wear on the corners and edges; a few scattered marks and foxing spots. The interior remains in satisfactory condition, and the illustrations are well preserved. One page is noted as having come loose from the binding.