ABSTRACT
Chinese arts and crafts have a continuous tradition of some 3,500 years. It is not possible to comment in this section on all forms that might qualify as art over the centuries, for the Chinese excelled at lacquer, bronzes, ceramics, textiles, and furniture-making as well as architecture, calligraphy, and painting. They carved marvelous works in ivory, wood, and jade.112 For purposes of this discussion, a distinction is needed between “art” and “craft.” Among the literati, forms worthy of discussion and theorizing as “art” were calligraphy and landscape painting, which of course were produced by that class. Everything else, including architecture and sculpture, was the work of humble craftsmen.
