Author Description

The pastoral tribes on China's northern borders played a major role in the cultural development of China during antiquity. By the first millennium B.C., the region's inhabitants were trading in horses, wool, carpets, and fur -- articles in constant demand by their settled, urban Chinese neighbors. The artistic creations of the two groups reflect centuries of flourishing contact and complex interrelationships. Recently excavated finds are enabling scholars to describe a plausible picture of contact, trade, and intercultural influence. In this book, Chinese and pastoral artifacts are studied and illustrated side by side in light of the most recent archaeological discoveries. Illus.