Throughout Chinese history, dynastic time—the organization of history through the lens of successive dynasties—has been the dominant mode of narrating the story of Chinese art, even though there has been little examination of this concept in discourse and practice until now. Chinese Art and Dynastic Time uncovers how the development of Chinese art was described in its original cultural, sociopolitical, and artistic contexts, and how these narratives were interwoven with contemporaneous artistic creation. In doing so, leading art historian Wu Hung opens up new pathways for the consideration of not only Chinese art, but also the whole of art history.

Published by Princeton University Press in association with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, this publication follows Hung’s 2019 presentation of the 68th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts.

Published in association with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC