Gardens of China.

4to.

Publisher's green cloth binding, flat spine (without slipcase).

First edition ill. with 11 colour plates, 208 b/w plates (mostly photographs) and diagrams or plans in-text. Sirén (1879-1979) deeply understood the Chinese aesthetics and had the prescience to recognize that traditional Chinese ways of life were endangered, beginning with Japanese occupation and exacerbated by the following civil war. As such, his photos captured neglected gardens of which many were destroyed in the aftermath. Text describes Chinese style elements in garden design and garden structures at the time of the chinoiserie vogue in decoration, notably in England, France, and Sweden, includes bibliography, and index.
Prov. Han-Shan Tang Ltd, London (label). - Walt Killam (1907-1979), painter. He retired from painting in 1960, and he and his wife concentrated on their Chinese and Japanese antique business in Chester (bookpl.).