Bøger af Ronald G. Knapp

Discover the rarified Peranakan (native-born Chinese of Southeast Asia) aesthetics that are today highly sought-after for their beauty: distinctive furniture and ceramics, textiles and jewelry, and many other art objects. Peranakan Chinese Home displays these extraordinary objects, visible markers of a highly developed culture. The broad range of beautiful objects which the Peranakan Chinese created and enjoyed in their daily lives is astounding. Each chapter in The Peranakan Chinese Home focuses on a different area and presents objects used or found in those spaces. Each piece is described in the context of their utility as household objects, as part of periodic celebrations to mark the Chinese New Year and other holidays, or in important life passage rituals relating to ancestor worship, birth, marriage, mourning and burial. The meaning of the rich symbolic and ornamental motifs found on the objects is discussed in detail and key differences are highlighted between Peranakan objects and similar ones found in China.A fascinating mix of Chinese, European and Southeast Asian influences, the distinctly Peranakan identity of a people and their culture is beautifully portrayed through objects and archival photographs in this lovely and exotic book.

SPONSORED BY THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF COVERED BRIDGESTheodore Burr (1771-1822) was the most prominent of America's three early nineteenth century timber bridge-building pioneers, the others being Timothy Palmer (1751-1821) and Lewis Wernwag (1769-1843). All three built superlative long-span timber bridges in the Northeast.A transplant from northwestern Connecticut, Theodore Burr moved to Oxford, New York in 1792-1793. In less than thirty years, he erected timber bridges over major rivers-the Hudson, Schoharie, Mohawk, Delaware, Potomac, and Susquehanna rivers-in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, District of Columbia, and Maryland.In addition to being the first full study of the most prominent timber bridge builder-Theodore Burr-that links him to other bridge builders, this book narrates the significant role of covered timber bridges and associated turnpikes in the westward expansion of the new nation, a subject never before written about. The book should help refocus scholarship on advances in transportation infrastructure during one of the most important periods in American history-the early 19th century. Based on archival research with newly discovered primary source materials, the book is richly illustrated more than 200 lithographs, paintings, and both historic and modern photographs, most of which have never been published before.Anyone today who has visited America's covered bridges and examined the structural features within is likely familiar with the variant forms of Burr's 1817 patented "Burr arch-truss" design- a multiple kingpost truss with an added segmented timber arch. Of the more than 1100 timber bridges using Burr's design that were erected over the past two hundred years, more than a hundred still stand in Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, and other states.Burr claimed to have built forty-five bridges. These however were not like the ordinary covered bridges commonly seen today that are identified with his patent but include some of the most challenging and superlative bridges in American history.Despite Burr's herculean efforts, part of his legacy sadly includes an obscure and ignominious demise in 1822 at the age of 51, possibly by then penniless and without even an obituary lauding his work. He was buried in an unknown grave. Burr deserved better. This book is strongly supported by the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges whose purpose is "To preserve covered bridges. To gather and record knowledge of the history of covered bridges. To collect and preserve pictures, printed, and manuscript matter and other articles of historical interest concerning covered bridges." https: //www.coveredbridgesociety.org/

Bridges, the least known and understood of China's many wonders, are one of its most striking and resilient feats of architectural prowess. Chinese Bridges brings together a thorough look at the marvels of Chinese bridge design from one of the world's leading experts on Chinese culture and historical geography, Ronald G. Knapp. While many consider bridges to be merely utilitarian civil engineering, the bridges of China move beyond that stereotype, as many are undeniably dramatic, even majestic and daring. Chinese Bridges illustrates in detail 20 well-preserved ancient bridges along with descriptions and essays on the distinctive architectural elements shared by the various designs. For the first time in an English-language book, Chinese Bridges records scores of newly discovered bridges across China's vast landscape, illustrated with over 400 color photographs, as well as woodblock prints, historic images, paintings and line drawings.

Things Chinese presents sixty distinctive items that are typical of Chinese culture and together open a special window onto the people, history, and society of the world's largest nation. Many of the objects are collectibles, and each has a story to tell.