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Discovered by chance by farmers in 1974, the mausoleum of the first emperor of China contained one of the wonders of the world: the Terracotta Army. Based on unique access to leading Chinese archaeologists, this book sets the clay warriors in the context of Chinese society 2,200 years ago, describes the latest discoveries at the vast and only partly excavated site, and hints at what may still be uncovered – including the imperial tomb itself.

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Rodin’s The Thinker has been a prominent exhibit at San Francisco’s Legion of Honor gallery since its opening in 1924, the museum’s founder having been a significant patron of the artist. This exhibition catalogue, published in 2017 to commemorate the centenary of the sculptor’s death, includes newly commissioned photographs of many of Rodin’s most important works, including The Burghers of Calais, The Gates of Hell and The Kiss, as well as plaster models and fragments.

Charles Avery is a leading authority on Renaissance art, and an admirer of the 16th- and 17th-century bronze works of Joseph de Levis and his family. This illustrated survey of their lives and works includes church-bells, some of which remain in remote country churches, mortars, inkstands, perfume-burners, door-knockers and firedogs. Each artefact is accompanied by a detailed explanation of its significance and inscriptions, while the family story gives an insight into the Jewish Diaspora of the period.

The colourful ceramic figures (mingqi) placed within Chinese aristocratic tombs represent the humans and animals that protect, serve and entertain the soul in the afterlife. More than 200 such objects are illustrated in this volume, spanning two millennia from the Han dynasty to the tradition’s latter stages in the Ming dynasty. The accompanying text traces the political, religious and economic influences on the evolution of the art and examines what the sculptures reveal about ancient Chinese philosophy and daily life.

In this first in-depth study and catalogue raisonné of the work of Ivor Roberts-Jones (1913–1996), the authors explore the career of this exceptional British sculptor in a number of essays, beginning with a biographical sketch. The essay topics include Roberts-Jones’s most familiar work, the statue of Winston Churchill that stands in Parliament Square; other portraits of Churchill in Oslo, New Orleans and Prague; and the portrait heads; while the catalogue illustrates and comments on over 156 works, with sketches and variants.

This illustrated guide to all outdoor statues and busts in Greater London examines the significance, the sculptor and the story behind each piece, from Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square to the many monuments that have been erected in the suburbs. This revised second edition also features sculptures added between 2012 and 2017, including the controversial memorial to Mary Seacole at St Thomas’s Hospital and the life-size statue of Amy Winehouse in Camden.

Portrait medals, which commemorate individuals through a combination of likeness, imagery and text, were an important artistic innovation of the Renaissance. Ng presents fine examples, ranging from the 15th to 19th century, which are now in one of the world’s most significant private collections. She traces the art form’s origins and development, discussing the techniques used across Europe to make medals and the personal and political purposes for which they were produced.

Published to accompany an exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens, this catalogue features the 28 large bronzes by Henry Moore, photographed around the gardens. Texts explain the sculptor’s working methods, the installation of Large Reclining Figure at Kew, and his work’s relation to natural forms.

David Nash sculpts wood with a chainsaw, creating forms that reflect their natural origin. This book chronicles his year-long residency at Kew Gardens, working with trees at the end of their lives. Photographs show the works in progress against a backdrop of the changing seasons.

The Djenné-Jeno culture flourished in the Niger delta, in what is now Mali, from around 700 to 1700 CE, and throughout that period produced powerful renderings in terracotta of the human figure. The product of 30 years’ field research, this authoritative study depicts more than 300 of these statues, charts the rediscovery of this lost art, explores the culture that produced it, establishes a chronology of styles, and sets the works in their historical context.

A highly regarded sculptor in both wood and stone, Dick Onians presents a basic guide to sculpting the human figure, from the basics of anatomy to carving the whole figure, with chapters dealing with the head, torso and limbs, drapery, stylization and carving in relief.

The rare monkey figurines created by the Baule of West Africa have puzzled historians since the 19th century. Rough-hewn and fearsome – with jutting jaws and bared teeth – the bowl-bearing monkeys seem quite unlike the Baule’s more delicate ancestor figures. In the first survey to focus exclusively on the monkeys, the authors explore their origin, creation and role in Baule society, and examine their ritualistic function as objects charged with invisible powers.

Head of Painting at Falmouth School of Art from 1960 to 1981, Francis Hewlett (1930–2012) remained a figurative artist, exploring what he called the ‘essential geometry’ of observed objects, despite the prevailing fashions of the period. Including over 200 paintings and drawings, this biography charts his lifelong dedication to art, from his early studies in Bristol, London and Paris to his completion of a major series of paintings in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Accompanying an exhibition of works by the sculptor, draughtsman, painter and poet Hans Jean Arp (1886–1966) at the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands, this catalogue examines the extraordinary range of Arp’s creative output in essays, reproductions and photographs. Text in English and Dutch.

Ancient Greek sculptors established the foundation of a new art form in which human bodies were realistically and dynamically portrayed. This book brings together more than 60 examples now in museums around the world; they range from early kouros statues (c.600 BCE) to a Roman-period portrait bust, and from delicate grave-markers to the friezes of Athens’ Acropolis and the great altar of Pergamon. Each item is discussed in the accompanying text and illustrated in multiple photographs that highlight significant details.

Born in Vienna, Roland Paris (1894–1945) lived and worked in Berlin during the interwar years, and his work, although made in the Art Deco period, has an idiosyncratic style, using grotesques, caricature and mockery in depictions of clowns, jesters, devils and temptresses. This volume presents an illustrated biography of Paris and over 180 pages of photographs showing his figurines in plaster, wood and bronze, and works on paper.

Born in Romania, Demetre Chiparus studied in Paris and stayed on to experience the cultural explosion of the inter-war years. He became an iconic Art Deco sculptor, his delicate figurines – which depict elaborately dressed dancers, children and animals – enjoying great popularity. Charting his life and influences, and the materials and foundries he used, this updated volume of the 1993 publication includes colour plates of his work, recently discovered pieces and a selection of his paintings.

Following her earlier book on Epstein’s formative years, Raquel Gilboa focuses on the artist’s life and his mature work after 1930: a period in which antisemitism increasingly coloured attitudes to art and culture. Illustrated with over 200 monochrome photographs, the book explores Epstein’s symbolism in the bold, monumental sculptures such as Genesis (1930) and Primeval Gods (1931–2) and smaller works including the magnificent bronze Lucifer (1947).

Beginning with an essay outlining the distinct features of public sculpture in the area, this fourth volume on the West Midlands covers public sculpture ranging in date from medieval times to 2005 and including church monuments by Roubiliac, Rysbrack, Nollekens, Flaxman and Chantry. The book is arranged alphabetically by location within each of the three counties.

Covering an area that has eleven major cities and towns, excluding Liverpool (the subject of Vol 1) this detailed survey covers sculptures ranging from the relatively sparse number of medieval church monuments to W Goscombe John’s magnificent Port Sunlight War Memorial (1921) and Jaume Plensa’s Dream (2008–9) at the former Sutton Manor Colliery. The entries are arranged alphabetically by location.

The first volume on Westminster covers an area stretching from Marylebone Road, across much of the West End to Buckingham Palace, Whitehall and the Houses of Parliament and down to Victoria and Millbank. It describes the whole range of commemorative monuments, fountains and free standing works of art, but excludes sculptures that are integral to buildings.

The Mantuan court sculptor Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, known as Antico (c.1455–1528), exemplifies the Renaissance passion for the revival of antiquity. He studied, restored and re-created antique art with unparalleled skill, but also developed new technology and, with his gilded and silvered statuettes, pioneered the genre of bronzes made in multiples. Published to accompany an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, this volume presents the first English-language monograph on Antico, and over 150 colour photographs of his sculptures.

The Chinese have revered the mystery and magic of jade since antiquity. This authoritative, beautifully illustrated book draws on the author’s unparalleled collection to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date survey of 6000 years of jade carving. Part one features early jades (7000 BCE to 220 CE); Part two features carvings of flora, fauna and the human figure; Part three covers personal adornments, scholars’ objects and vessels.

Based on extensive field research, this is a groundbreaking assessment of the early sculptures from West Tibet and Ladakh – the only known surviving examples that are made in accordance with the sculptural technique described in classical Indian literature.

Since the Renaissance, the characters of the Commedia dell'Arte – Harlequin, Columbine, Scaramouche and company – have inspired plays, paintings, engravings and porcelain. Drawing on some of the world's finest collections, especially that of the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art in Toronto, this magnificently illustrated survey presents 150 figures by leading British and European manufacturers, including the celebrated Meissen factories. It also explains the hidden meanings of these mysterious characters and how a bawdy street theatre became an elegant courtly entertainment.

This is the second of Tom Cross's two books that are now standard works on the history of the Newlyn and St Ives Schools. First published in 1984, it was based on interviews and discussions with those artists who were still working in and around St Ives in the 1970s and '80s. The book begins with the war years, when several artists sought refuge in Cornwall from the bombing in London. Among those discussed are Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Naum Gabo, Roger Hilton and the potter, Bernard Leach.

Each book in this attractive series comprises a short essay on an artist's life and work, including a portrait or self-portrait, and about 80 reproductions of their works, arranged chronologically. The books are presented in an unusual square format with covers and jackets both printed with one of the artist's best-known paintings.

The Public Monuments and Sculpture Association was founded in 1991 to encourage the study and conservation of Britain's public sculpture and commemorative and decorative monuments. The volumes of its National Recording Project provide detailed catalogues of significant sculptures, excluding works in art galleries and museums. Each book comprises an introduction to the region; illustrated entries on individual works arranged by location; biographies of the artists; and a glossary and index. The first volume on Westminster covers the whole range of commemorative monuments, fountains and free-standing works of art, but excludes sculptures that are integral to buildings.

Part of the Introductions to Chinese Culture series, this book provides an accessible overview of sculptural art in China, including the Terracotta Army, Buddhist sculpture, tomb carvings, architectural sculpture, exchange with foreign cultures and sculpture in China today. Like all the books in the series, it is written by a noted expert in the field, well illustrated with colour photographs and offers an ideal introductory survey for both students and general readers.

During his long life, Alexander Phimister Proctor (1860-1950) was acclaimed by both the public and the art establishment worldwide as the foremost sculptor of Western themes. This first comprehensive monograph explores his unique combination of the Beaux Arts aesthetic and the exhilaration of the American frontier, and charts his own richly adventurous life. Lavishly illustrated, it also provides a chronology and a full listing of Proctor's public works.