The Walls and Gates of Peking.

SIREN, Osvald.

$8,800.00

Item Number: 27086

New York: Orientalia, 1924.

First edition of this work limited to 800 copies. Quarto, original half cloth, over papered boards. brown morocco label to the spine. Title page printed in red and black, folding map, 128 photogravures on 109 plates, 53 plans and elevations. In excellent condition with some rubbing to the bottom cloth. and light rubbing to the extremities. Rare.

Osvald Sirén was a Finnish-born art historian, whose interests included the art of 18th century Sweden, Renaissance Italy and China. In the area of Chinese art, his major work was The Walls and Gates of Peking. Sirén was an early member of the theosophist movement. In 1956, he was awarded the Charles Lang Freer Medal. In The Walls and Gates of Peking provides historical records of the walls and gates of Beijing and has 109 photos taken by Osvald Siren and 50 architectural drawings made by Chinese artists. “Superb historical description of the substantial stone monuments in the Peking area, probably the most important work and the only photographic monograph on the subject from this period by one of the greatest authorities on Chinese art history and architecture" (Western Travellers in China).