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Publisher: Thames & Hudson, London, 2007, £39/$70.
ISBN: 978 0 500 51378 1
Every now and again a truly sumptuous book comes along: a book of lush photography and extravagant presentation that quickly renders the reviewer into submission. How is one to put into prose the aesthetic experience? How churlish it would be to find fault! This is such a book.
The book has 451 high quality colour photographs generously displayed on large format pages (12 inches high by 11 inches deep) - maybe a tad too deep for comfort on standard shelves. It is a book more suited for the library coffee table; a table such as that from the Philippines illustrated on page 211: the "library table of narra wood ably supported by a pair of turned and fluted stretchers"; possibly even the nineteenth century Korean cabinet that shelves classic literary works "together with calligraphy brushes and other scholarly items" on page 242. The latter shows the books (i.e. pages tied with tapes) and stacked, which might be a kindness to this book, although the binding does seem robust.
The subject-matter is crafted domestic furniture in wood: tables, chests, beds, cupboards, tables, screens - and doors, ones with richly painted designs. No plastic, metal, post-modernist or minimalist furniture here! The area covered is Asia, or more precisely, India, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Tibet, Philippines, Korea and Japan. Each country has its own author and...