This publication celebrates the promised gift to The Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Oscar Tang family of twelve major works from the C. C. Wang Family Collection, one of the great private collections of Chinese old master paintings to be assembled in the twentieth century. Ranging in date from the tenth to the early eighteenth century, these works significantly extend the Museum's holdings and reveal those areas of Chinese painting of particular interest to Mr. Wang. …

From the tenth century to the end of the Manchu Ch'ing dynasty early in this century, the dominant concern of the Chinese painter has been the natural world of landscape, trees and rocks, birds and animals, flowers and bamboo— "the myriad phenomena occasioned by consciousness," in the words of the eleventh-century art historian Kuo Jo-hsü. The older figure and narrative traditions remain vital for a time, during the period of the Sung (960–1279) and Yüan (1279–1368) dynasties, then rapidly declined, becoming the concern only of journeymen artisans and court chroniclers. …

One of the great rewards of a visit to the Museum fur Indischc Kunst in Dahlcm, West Berlin, is the opportunity to see its extraordinary holdings in the art of Central Asia. With only a handful of important collections of Central Asian art in die world, Berlin’s remains unrivaled, particularly in the magnificent assemblage of wall paintings. Acquired in the first quarter of this century as the result of four pioneering expeditions to the remote and inhospitable region of Chinese Turkestan, die Berlin collection has led the way to a greater understanding and appreciation of the ancient cultures of Central Asia.