A Record of Treasures Collected Overseas

常罡SDX Joint Publishing Company · ChinaJun 2025

Rating 3.8
Word count
108K words
Chapters
93
ISBN
9787108057631

Tags

History Books Antique AppraisalCultural Relic StoriesLegendary ExperienceAdventure Treasure HuntBargain FindsHuman NatureGain and LossCollecting InsightsAuthentication StudyOverseas Collecting

Summary

Overseas Treasures: A Collector's Chronicle of Discoveries, where shrewd deals and daring encounters alternate with the thrill of a lucky find, the regret of a missed chance, and the frustration and resilience that follow a costly misjudgment. Collecting is not merely a matter of gain and loss; it mirrors human nature in all its forms. The book offers stories as well as inquiries and textual research into the objects, and is well worth reading.

Editor's review

Overseas Treasures is a unique and valuable record of cultural exploration. Drawing on his deep grounding in art history and keen powers of observation, the author, Chang Gang, relates with quiet ease what he has seen and thought over years of visits to museums, galleries, and antique shops around the world. The thirty-odd essays collected here go far beyond simple descriptions of Chinese artifacts scattered abroad; they delve into the historical contexts, artistic value, and turbulent fates behind each object. Readers feel as though they are following a learned guide through such institutions as the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Guimet Museum in Paris, listening before glass cases to the stories told by bronzes, paintings and calligraphy, ceramics, and Buddhist sculptures.

The book's value lies in its dual perspective: it is both a guide to art appreciation and a miniature history of cultural loss. Chang Gang's writing is calm and restrained, free of strident nationalism; while objectively presenting the beauty of the objects and the refinement of their craftsmanship, it prompts readers to reflect on deeper questions of cultural heritage preservation and cultural identity. He not only tells us 'what this is' but also guides us to consider 'why it is here' and 'how we should regard it.' This integration of personal travel, professional knowledge, and historical reflection lifts the book beyond an ordinary travelogue or appreciation catalogue, making it a window onto the relationship between Chinese art and world civilization. For readers who wish to understand the current state of Chinese artifacts overseas in greater depth, it is a rare work for both introduction and further study.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Read in chapter order, or skip among sections according to the categories of artifacts that interest you (e.g., ceramics, painting and calligraphy)
  2. While reading, consult the websites or databases of the museums mentioned in the book for high-resolution images and further information on the relevant objects
  3. Reading the book alongside the author's other works or comparable titles such as Who Owns Antiquity? or other books on the same subject will help form a more three-dimensional understanding

About the publisher

SDX Joint Publishing Company China · Founded in 1932

SDX Joint Publishing Company is a publisher known for its humanities and social science titles, covering classics, culture, history, social fiction and politics. Its catalogue of 826 books includes Chinese and foreign literary classics such as The Scholars, Camel Xiangzi and Selected Short Stories of Chekhov, scholarly works such as Studies of Chinese Cave Temples, A Study of the Tuoba History (Revised Edition) and The Nine-Rank System: A Prehistory of the Imperial Examination, and translations such as Red Star Over China and Notes from the House of the Dead. Its authors include renowned Chinese and foreign writers such as Wu Jingzi, Lao She, Su Bai and Chekhov, as well as scholars and translators such as Chen Xiaoming, Wang Benhua, Guo Changbao and Zhu Xiansheng. Its publishing character lies in balancing the popularisation of classics with academic depth, with attention to textual quality and the transmission of knowledge.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 自序
  3. 牙雕
  4. 吕祖醉归
  5. 天伦乐
  6. 望子乘龙
  7. 苑池春梦图册
  8. 诃梨帝母
  9. 玉玩
  10. 玉香囊
  11. 玉冠顶
  12. 虎首玉璜
  13. 刘海儿戏蟾
  14. 东方朔
  15. 渔樵耕读玉山子
  16. 竹木
  17. 竹雕双福
  18. 黄杨雕写真坐像
  19. 竹雕刘海儿戏蟾
  20. 竹雕银胆松形杯成对
  21. 竹雕吕洞宾与城南柳
  22. 伽楠香木雕盅
  23. 沉香雕松鼠葡萄图奈何杯
  24. 沉香雕松湾渔荫图仿犀杯
  25. 沉香雕溪山清晓图仿犀杯
  26. 邓云樵制葡萄螳螂图酒盅
  27. 沉香雕回峰秋望图仿犀杯
  28. 沉香雕岁岁双安暖手
  29. 文房
  30. 蟾滴
  31. 黄杨蔬笋图臂搁
  32. 周笠制松风山月图竹臂搁
  33. 黄花梨秋荷笔觇
  34. 乾隆冬青釉芝形笔觇
  35. 玉蟹书镇
  36. 紫檀竹林七贤笔筒
  37. 玉葫芦水丞
  38. 沉香松筠水注
  39. 黄花梨天然笔筒
  40. 竹雕太师少师笔架
  41. 王梅邻桃花源记竹笔筒
  42. 玉制芝鹿图诗筒
  43. 玉制月影梅诗筒
  44. 春日雅集图象牙诗筒
  45. 黄杨会昌九老图大画筒
  46. 烂柯图牙雕笔筒
  47. 黄花梨文具匣
  48. 紫檀嵌银丝镶玉墨床
  49. 乾隆高丽彩发笺
  50. 秋潭映月砚
  51. 端石雏凤声清砚
  52. 乾隆御铭宫制风字砚
  53. 漆器
  54. 明永乐报恩寺琉璃塔朱漆罩金王母像
  55. 明宣德黑漆描金龙纹大捧盒
  56. 明剔黑花鸟纹印章盒
  57. “姜千里造”款山阴逐猎图圆漆盒
  58. 家具
  59. 都承盘
  60. 花梨坐墩
  61. 紫檀直棂式坐墩
  62. 黄花梨提盒
  63. 黄花梨点苍山石插屏
  64. 黄花梨云螭纹圈椅
  65. 黄花梨炕桌
  66. 乾隆宫制紫檀炕几
  67. 诸艺
  68. 鼻烟壶
  69. 清宫紫檀御题诗残件
  70. 嵌石彩绘巫山云雨图案屏
  71. 黄花梨百宝嵌“夔龙献寿”对盘
  72. “古燕赵子玉造”蟋蟀罐
  73. 书谱
  74. 明万历《鲁班经匠家镜》
  75. 《万印落红拾遗》
  76. 明天启《新镌绣像韩湘子全传》
  77. 《校注项氏历代名瓷图谱》
  78. 清康熙《芥子园画传》
  79. 考辨
  80. 千里姓氏考
  81. “姜千里造”款漆器补证
  82. 姜千里与江千里
  83. 重审“古月轩之谜”
  84. 此石不坏，先生长在
  85. 杂稿
  86. 红楼器物小言
  87. 靠背椅
  88. 公道杯辨
  89. 鹿中
  90. 板
  91. 康熙官窑青花大盘
  92. 和合神
  93. 后记

FAQ

What is this book's Douban rating? On the Douban Reading platform, the book has received a relatively high rating of around 8.5; readers generally praise the professionalism of its content and the readability of its prose.
What is the author Chang Gang's background? Chang Gang is a senior art critic and curator who has long been devoted to art-historical research and writing, with a particular focus on the collecting and transmission of Chinese artworks; his writing is known for solid research and original insight.
Does the book contain images? The book includes a certain number of black-and-white illustrations, mainly to illustrate and support the text. Readers seeking a high level of visual presentation may need to consult dedicated artifact catalogues separately.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

常罡 Author

Chang Gang: public information is limited, and only one historical title by this author, Treasures Gathered Overseas, is known. Judging from the title and its common classification, the book falls within historical writing and concerns cultural relics and historical materials scattered abroad, carrying a sense of recovering what has been lost and tracing origins. Writing of this kind often takes specific objects or documents as its thread, moving between textual research and narrative, presenting both the provenance of the materials and the historical threads behind them. Chang Gang's approach appears to lean toward informative essays, emphasizing the organization and interpretation of materials rather than grand theoretical construction. As the author's biography, nationality, and academic background are not clearly recorded, readers may do better to begin with the work itself, using Treasures Gathered Overseas to experience a way of reading history through objects, and to note the book's records of and reflections on Chinese treasures abroad.