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----------------------------Original message---------------------------- MAJOR NEW PUBLICATION ON THE ARTS OF CENTRAL ASIA Soon to be in our hands, Available Mid-October, 1996. GiŪs, Jacques ed: THE ARTS OF CENTRAL ASIA. The Pelliot Collection in the Mus©e Guimet. Paris & London, 1996. 376; 454; 236 pp. 457 colour and 196 b/w plates and illustrations. 2 vols. 35x26 cm, plus 1 vol 30x21. Cloth, slip-cases. The third, English volume is a complete translation of the text and captions of the French volumes, by Hero Friesen in collaboration with Roderick Whitfield. Available from: Han-Shan Tang Books 42 Westleigh Avenue, London SW15 6RL, UK Tel (+44 181) 788 4464 Fax (+44 181) 780 1565 Email: [log in to unmask] World Wide Web (with current catalogue): http://www.demon.co.uk/eastfield/hstbooks/ GB Pounds 600.00 PLEASE NOTE: We are holding this pre-publication price through October 96, but cannot be held responsible for increases after that date. Companion to The Art of Central Asia: The Stein Collection, these volumes now present the entire collection of Central Asian art recovered during the travels of the great French explorer and scholar, Paul Pelliot (1878--1945). There are two volumes in French and one volume with complete English text. Most of the collection's paintings, sculptures and textiles come from the walled-up rock chapel in one of the `Caves of the Thousand Buddhas' at Dunhuang, the greatest and most extensive of Central Asia's rock temple complexes at the edge of the Taklamakan desert in Gansu Province, China, and date from the early 8th to the 11th centuries. Paul Pelliot's revelation in 1908 of this vast hoard of paintings, and upwards of 40,000 ancient manuscripts, created a new field of learning which provided the basis of inspiration, together with Stein's own discoveries, for studies embracing Buddhism, art, literature, and social and economic history. Some 230 paintings on silk, cotton and hemp cloth, and 50 sculptures, were acquired by the Mus©e Guimet, of which six paintings were only recently rediscovered in the reserve collection, and are now published for the first time. The fascinating story of Pelliot's expedition, together with a survey of his great scholarly achievements, is recounted in an introductory essay by Jacques GiŪs, the present curator of the Paul Pelliot Collection. Each painting and object is fully described in separate essays by leading specialists, which are translated into English in the supplementary volume. The colour plates provide sumptuous details of each painting so that they may be fully appreciated. This is a major work of reference for specialist art historians which may also be enjoyed by all collectors and lovers of fine traditional art.