Empresses, Art, and Agency in Song Dynasty China is the first book in any language devoted to the art of imperial women in China. Utilizing a wide range of historical sources and materials, this groundbreaking, interdisciplinary study pieces together a lost history of female creativity by focusing on the critical role emperors' wives played as patrons, collectors, taste-makers, and artists during the three-century Song dynasty (960-1279), an era noted for spectacular cultural achievements.

The Song led China to unrivaled intellectual, socioeconomic, scientific, and urban...