The eternal feast : banqueting in Chinese art from the 10th to the 14th century / Zoe S. Kwok.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 186-190) and index.

"This book is published on the occasion of the exhibition The Eternal Feast: Banqueting in Chinese Art from the 10th to 14th Century. Prince University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey October 19, 2019-February 16, 2020"--Title page verso

Foreward / James Christen Steward -- Preface and acknowledgments / Zoe S. Kwok -- Chronology and maps -- Introduction: The feast in the artistic traditions of early China / Zoe S. Kwok -- The feast across three gatherings: Images of banqueting from the 10th to the 14th century / Zoe S. Kwok -- Dining in the afterlife -- Ladies banqueting in seclusion -- Gentlemen feasting as scholarly business -- Bibliography -- Index -- Photography credits.

An overview of Chinese culture, particularly visions of life and the afterlife, told through feast imagery from three historically transformative dynasties. Feasting was an important social and ritual activity in China beginning in the Bronze Age, and cuisine retains a strong cultural significance to this day. This book focuses on feasting in the 10th through 14th centuries, examining Chinese paintings of feasts from the Song (960-1279), Liao (907-1125), and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties. Feast images, more so than works from any other painting genre, depict scenes from the past, the present, and the afterlife alike. More specifically, as author Zoe S. Kwok explains in the book's insightful text, they portray a continuum between life and what lies beyond it; this volume is the first to make such a connection. Full-color plates highlight a rare group of paintings as well as complementary ceramic, metal, stone, and textile objects, and the nearly fifty individual catalogue entries touch on diverse topics-not only food and drink but dance, music, costume, burial practices, artistic patronage, and more.