Ten Treatises on Refined Objects: The World of Meaning Behind the Literati's Belongings

People today tend to think of objects associated with the literati as elegant and natural. In fact, each one was born of a long and arduous process of refinement. This book explores ten objects from the lives of literati, describing how, through poetry, prose, painting, and everyday use, they gradually cleansed away the "turbid air" of rank and worldly convention that had clung to them, restoring each object's clear, pure, and natural form.