Produced for the exhibition Transcending Transience: Art and Culture of Late-Ming Jiangnan, the current catalogue is directed by James C.Y. Watt, edited by Maggie C.K. Wan and Jiang Fangting, and features essays and entries written by researchers of the Art Museum and alumni of the Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Seven or eight decades prior to the demise of the Ming Empire, the Jiangnan area was no doubt blessed with prosperity, offering its inhabitants pleasures and luxuries like never before. Facets of this privileged existence can be glimpsed from the fine works and objects of art that define the period. Featuring over 200 objects from the period, the publication invites contemplation on the people and their possessions in a golden age that was the late Ming in a cultural and social context. The lifestyles and cultural activities of the late-Ming middle class are spotlighted in this catalogue. The late-Ming middle class was a heterogeneous group that included artisans, merchants, rich farmers, well-born ladies, famous courtesans, literary leaders, playwrights, poets, thinkers, collectors and professional painters. These were the people who found themselves face to face with a dysfunctional government and little prospect in joining the civil service on the one hand, and a prosperous Jiangnan area, an extravagant consumer culture, an explosion of thoughts and ideas and relatively high social mobility on the other. They succeeded in establishing their unique cultural and social identity by taking everyday objects seriously, readjusting their activities and outlook, and innovating the themes and techniques of their works. Ever growing in number and attaching importance to things and the self, these city dwellers became a driving force behind the mass production of exquisite objects and distinctive art. What are included in this catalogue were created either by them or for them to give expression to their cultural aspirations. The catalogue includes an introduction and three thematic essays. Under the five sections, namely “Obsessing with the Quotidian”, “Asserting One’s Individuality”, “Escaping through Art and Buddhism”, “Living in Elegance for Serenity” and “Putting China on the World Map”, there are 200 entries introducing exquisite works of art from the Shanghai Museum, public and private collections in Hong Kong, as well as overseas museums. *** 本書由屈志仁先生擔任總策劃,尹翠琪和蔣方亭主編,香港中文大學文物館研究員及藝術系系友共同撰寫文章及條目,是為配合《浮世清音──晚明江南藝術與文化》展覽而製作。 明朝覆亡前七、八十年的江南一片繁華,人們生活優遊,奢侈享樂,富渥程度前所未見。這番景象具體表現在其時江南社會各種精緻的器物和燦爛的藝術文化。本書透過研究二百多件晚明文物和藝術精品,全面探討此繁華現象背後的個體生命歷程及社會文化意識。 本書以晚明社會中層人物的生活和藝術創作為焦點。此階層人物身份多樣,包括工匠、富農、名門閨秀、名妓、文壇領袖等。他們身處晚明政治腐敗、民間思潮激烈碰撞、階級容易流動等社會不穩的大時代之中,往往通過斟酌日常器用、用心調整自身行為和態度,並致力於藝術題材和技法上的創新,確立起個人獨特的文化身份和社會定位。這個中層群體對「物」和「自我」的重視,亦成為晚明各種新奇精工器物和獨具個性的藝術品大量產生的主要動力。本書選取的晚明藝術作品,正由這些城市中人創造,或為回應他們的文化訴求而生產。 全書收錄展覽導言及主題文章三篇,並在〈執念日常〉〈浮世爭鳴〉〈遊藝逃禪〉〈芸窗雅設〉〈器行萬國〉五個單元下,收錄二百篇圖錄條目,介紹分別來自上海博物館、香港公私收藏以及海外博物館所藏晚明書畫及工藝精品。