Chinese Material Culture Series: Treatise on Superfluous Things

The Treatise on Superfluous Things and The Craft of Gardens are twin masterpieces of ancient Chinese arts: the making of objects, garden design, and planting. The Treatise on Superfluous Things focuses on crafted objects, planting, and the creation of an elegant home environment, while The Craft of Gardens centers on garden design and the choice of spaces for everyday life. Together, they complement each other to present a complete picture of the lives of ancient Chinese literati.

The Treatise on Superfluous Things has twelve sections covering the arts of making objects, planting, and garden design, along with every aspect of daily life, including clothing, food, housing, practical objects, travel, and leisure. Sections on houses, flowers and trees, water and stones, birds and fish, and vegetables and fruit explain the elements that shaped life in ancient Chinese gardens, their relationships, and the principles for choosing them. The seven sections on painting and calligraphy, tables and couches, utensils, clothing and adornments, boats and carriages, placement, and incense and tea discuss methods of manufacture, arrangement, or materials, but all reflect the aesthetic sensibility of the ancient literati: concealing human artifice rather than letting it show.

The Treatise on Superfluous Things values not the worth of materials, but the subtle elegance of their texture and form. The natural, antique charm of the surroundings it describes embodies not only the ancient literati’s enduring pursuit of refined living, but also the gentle temperament of elegant scholars.