Summary: Publisher Summary 1 Tseng (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York U.) has written an irresistible account of how Heaven was conceived and depicted in the art of Han China. Using a wealth of examples from archaeology and museum collections, she describes celestial journeys, auspicious omens, the celestial markers and celestial bodies, describing the occurrence and meanings of artistic motifs and beliefs in inscriptions, texts, earlier belief systems, literature, and the artifacts and architecture. The complex symbolism of prevalent motifs is analyzed in terms of belief systems and practices, including, for example, in the case of dragons, by connections made to the weather and constellations. The volume is heavily illustrated with b&w and color plates of excellent quality. Throughout the text, Chinese terms and names are given in both Chinese characters and English translation. The volume is distributed by Harvard U. Press. Annotation 漏2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)   Publisher Summary 2 Tian,or Heaven, had been used in China since the Western Zhou to indicate both the sky and the highest god. Examining excavated materials, Lillian Tseng shows how Han-dynasty artisans transformed various notions of Heaven鈥攁s the mandate, the fantasy, and the sky鈥攊nto pictorial entities, not by what they looked at, but by what they looked into.   Publisher Summary 3 Tian,or Heaven, had multiple meanings in early China. It had been used since the Western Zhou to indicate both the sky and the highest god, and later came to be regarded as a force driving the movement of the cosmos and as a home to deities and imaginary animals. By the Han dynasty, which saw an outpouring of visual materials depicting Heaven, the concept of Heaven encompassed an immortal realm to which humans could ascend after death.Using excavated materials, Lillian Tseng shows how Han artisans transformed various notions of Heaven鈥攁s the mandate, the fantasy, and the sky鈥攊nto pictorial entities. The Han Heaven was not indicated by what the artisans looked at, but rather was suggested by what they looked into.Artisans attained the visibility of Heaven by appropriating and modifying related knowledge of cosmology, mythology, astronomy. Thus the depiction of Heaven in Han China reflected an interface of image and knowledge. By examining Heaven as depicted in ritual buildings, on household utensils, and in the embellishments of funerary settings, Tseng maintains that visibility can hold up a mirror to visuality; Heaven was culturally constructed and should be culturally reconstructed.