The Royal Collection includes some of the most historically important examples of eastern arts now in the western world. With more than 2,000 pieces distributed among the royal residences in England and Scotland, this collection presents a rich cross-section of the porcelains, jades, lacquers and other works of art produced in China and Japan and brought here over a period of several centuries, reflecting the West's long-standing appetite for rarities from distant lands.

More than 2,400 colour images are used to illustrate the collection, including intricate decorative details and makers’ marks. Introductory essays cover the provenance of the collection and the ways in which the works of art were displayed in the royal palaces and adapted according to the fashions of the day.

This three-volume catalogue raisonné is the first of its kind to cover significant elements of this substantial and important collection in comprehensive detail. A striking feature of the collection is the mounting in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries of many objects in gilt bronze: the mounts themselves, made in French and British workshops, are often of superb quality and of great historical importance and are published here for the first time.

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