Imperial Taste

Sir Percival David was described by Sir Harry Garner as "...the greatest connoisseur and collector of Chinese art in our time." He was a man who devoted most of his adult life to the study and acquisition of Chinese works of art. During his lifetime he gave to the University of London his unique and extensive collection of Chinese ceramics and his library of books on Asian art. These are now housed in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, which is part of the School of Oriental and African Studies. The hallmarks of Sir Percival's collection are the remarkably high quality of the wares contained therein and the fact that he wished his collection to reflect not the taste of Western but of Chinese connoisseurs, in particular imperial tast of the eighteenth century. Many of the ceramics in the Foundation have at one time in their history been in the possession of the Chinese emperors, and a high proportion bear important inscriptions that were applied either at the time of their manufacture or late, when they were in the imperial collection.--Preface.