The Many Names of Anonymity

Reviews / Votes

"Engagingly written with a high degree of structural and conceptual integrity, this is a rare book that is groundbreaking while also performing the tasks of authentication and reconstruction of historical context on which the field relies. Wong tackles a subject that has long escaped consideration in art history and museum studies, taking on early modern Cantonese works that have previously eluded in-depth art historical research, while intelligently and efficiently providing necessary background information for readers unfamiliar with the subject." -- Chelsea Foxwell, University of Chicago "This highly important and original study marks a huge step change in knowledge about its subject, 'Canton trade painting.' But beyond that, its rich analysis and rigorous scholarship should prompt anyone interested in the history of art, and not only in China, to reconsider some of the boundaries we have drawn and exclusions we have enforced." -- Craig Clunas, University of Oxford "This book is a major advancement in scholarship on so-called Chinese export art, a misnomer that Wong corrects. Looking closely and carefully at a range of relevant paintings, prints, and drawings, Wong has sifted through an enormous amount of archival detail to uncover new historical materials and evidence. Her insightful and fresh analysis draws deeply on the best traditions of art historical scholarship. The result is an eye-opening study of paintings, painters, inscribers, biographies, subjects, patrons, and viewers-all coming together to produce a new and original story of Canton trade art as a compelling subject of art history." -- Stanley Abe, Duke University