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I would like to begin a home-study of antique Asian art. Can anyone recommend books that I may read to start my studies? Michael

Dear Michael

Asia is a vast continent with +10,000 yrs of history, you have to specify which part of Asia you are interested to study.

SE Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, West Asia, South Asia...or you may pick the countries like:-
-Thailand
-Myanmar
-Indonesia
-Cambodia
-China
-Korea
-Japan
..etc

You may visit museum and find artifact of Asia you love, then you study about it....finally you'll know where to go.

Have fun and be good at it.

Anita

Start with The Art of East Asia (Gabriele Fahr-Becker) and A History of Far Eastern Art (Sherman Lee) in order to help you be slightly more specific about your interests. In other words, are you interested in art history in the sense of the development of styles, or are you interested in the antiques market itself and work as a dealer? (Either way you will have to learn about the artwork itself.) What media are you interested in? Ceramics? Paintings? Sculpture? Calligraphy? Architecture? Textiles? etc. Finally, what cultures are you interested in? (eg China, Japan, Thai, India, Vietnam, etc.) And are you interested in specific periods within a given culture's history? Although much still remains unresolved on any one of these topics, much work has already been done, so you will be able to find work in most of the subfields that interest you.

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