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Jade People

Jade People

The Human Figure and Faces in Chinese Jade over More than 7,000 Years

By (author) Angus Forsyth

£100.00

Publishing 14th Sep 2026
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    • An inspiration for sculptors, modellers and other artists and arts-and-crafts fans everywhere
    • Featuring many previously unseen jade artefacts, covering over 7,000 years of Chinese history
    • By prolific collector and widely respected authority on ancient Chinese jade, Angus Forsyth
    Full Description

    This scholarly volume explores the evolution and artistic significance of human figures and faces in historical and prehistorical Chinese jade. The fruit of an extraordinary collection of artefacts, assembled over several decades, Jade People: The Human Figure and Faces in Chinese Jade over More Than 7,000 Years showcases Chinese jade working dating back millennia, focusing on representations of the human figure in 3D, in relief and in cutout silhouette form. Portrayals of the human form have featured among the principal drivers of artistic expression throughout history, with China being no exception to this shared spirit of sculptural exploration, as the amazing historical development of Chinese jade-working skills makes clear in these pages.
    The well-preserved jade artefacts presented here include prehistoric works from before the Shang Dynasty and are accurately dated thanks to carbon dating of buried organic matter and skeletal remains, providing us with a continuous timeline from ancient times to the present. From leading expert Angus Forsyth, this is an important guide to the history of human images in China’s jade artefacts. 

    About the Author

    Angus Forsyth is a British subject who was a former Council Member and Former Vice President of the Hong Kong Society of Notaries. He was admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong in June 1971. He is a member of the Legal Committee of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce
    and is a member and was the past President of The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong. He is Chairman and a member of the Board of Governors of Musica Viva Limited – opera and music production in Hong Kong. He is a member of the Board of Arts and Education Limited, Charitable Grants in aid to East/West Hong Kong arts courses, principally to assist in travel grants for fine arts students at The University of Hong Kong. He has written articles and publications extensively on various different topics covered under commercial law, trademark law, intellectual property law, personal data privacy protection under the law generally and on the internet and on the Electronic Transactions Ordinance. He has published Five Chinese Jade Figures, a study of the development of Sculptural Form in Hongshan jade working, Orientations magazine, May 1990; Neolithic Jades in Jade – Anness Publishing, London, 1991; Post-Neolithic to Han Chinese Jades in Jade – Anness Publishing, London, 1991; Jades from China – catalogue of an exhibition of Chinese jades at the Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, England, 1994; Ships of the Silk Road – The Bactrian Camel in Chinese Jade, Philip Wilson Publishers – Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2018; Celestial Beings and Bird-Men – Human Flights in Chinese Jade about Flying Apsaras, Kinnaras, Garuda and Anthroponotic Head Ornament in Chinese jade, Philip Wilson Publishers – Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2020.

    Specifications
    Publisher
    ACC Art Books
    ISBN
    9781788843874
    Publish date
    14th Sep 2026
    Binding
    Hardback
    Territory
    World
    Size
    305 mm x 230 mm
    Pages
    440 Pages
    Illustrations
    550 color
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