Author: Tessa Murdoch
Publisher: Victoria & Albert Museum
ISBN: 9781851777310
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Published to accompany the exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Author: Wolfram Koeppe
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN: 1588392880
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
"In the royal and princely courts of Europe, artworks made of multicolored semiprecious stones were passionately coveted objects. Known as pietre dure, or hardstones, this type of artistic expression includes?paintings in stone,? which were composed of intricately cut separate pieces that were made into magnificent tabetops, cabinets, and wall decorations. Other works included vessels and ornaments carved with virtuosic skill from a single piece of rare and brilliant lapis lazuli, chalcedony, jasper, or similarly prized substance; exquisite objects such as boxes, clocks, and jewelry; and portraits of nobles sculpted in variously colored stones. Derived from ancient Roman decorative stonework, the art of pietre dure was developed in Renaissance Florence, where the manufacture of such objects was enthusiastically sponsored by Medici princes. Ideally suited for ostentatious display, the works sent an unmistakable message of wealth and political might that was understood in centers of power everywhere. From Italy the medium spread across Europeto Prague, Madrid, Naples, Paris, and later Saint Petersburg. Precious and fragile, pietre dure objects are rarely brought together in large numbers. This richly illustrated catalogue contains more than 150 masterworks from across Europe, dating from five centuries, including almost every artistic use of semiprecious stone during this time as well as some of the finest examples of the medium. Eight essays by European and American experts discuss the individualized development of pietre dure in every European region, the latest developments in scholarship, the interrelationships between art and dynastic politics and between cultures, and a variety of techniques used to produce these luxurious masterworks."--Metropolitan Museum of Art website.

Author: Jenny Stratford
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 1843833786
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description
The remarkable treasure of gold and silver from England and France which Richard II had amassed by the end of his reign in 1399 is fully revealed for the first time in this richly illustrated book. The author explores the nature of the objects themselves, their provenance and later fate, and examines the crucial role the treasure played in diplomacy and in financing the Hundred Years War, especially at the time of Agincourt. --

Author: Michael Hall
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1473530954
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 701

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Book Description
"Hall’s consummate history is not just the story of the evolution of one of the world’s great collections... The book is also a through-the-keyhole insight into the shifting tastes, good or bad, of 1,000 years of monarchs." - The Times The Royal Collection is the last great collection formed by the European monarchies to have survived into the twenty-first century. Containing over a million artworks and objects, it covers all aspects of the fine and decorative arts, from paintings by Rembrandt and Michelangelo to grand sculpture, Fabergé eggs and some of the most exquisite furniture ever made. The Royal Collection also offers a revealing insight into the history of the British monarchy from William the Conqueror to Queen Elizabeth II, recording the tastes and obsessions of kings and queens over the past 500 years. With unprecedented access to the royal residences of St James' Palace, Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, Art, Passion & Power traces the history of this national institution from the Middle Ages to the present day, exploring how royalty used the arts to strengthen their position as rulers by divine right and celebrating treasures from the Crown Jewels to the "Abraham" tapestries in Hampton Court Palace. Author Michael Hall examines the monarchy's response to changing attitudes to the arts and sciences during the Enlightenment and celebrates the British monarchy's role in the democratisation of art in the modern world. Packed with glimpses of rarely seen artworks, Art, Passion & Power is a visual treat for all art enthusiasts. Accompanying the BBC television series and a major exhibition at the Royal Academy, Art, Passion & Power is the definitive statement on the British monarchy's treasures of the art world.

Author: Anna M. F. Jackson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781851776474
Category : Art, Indic
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The word 'maharaja' - literally 'great king' - conjures up a vision of splendour and magnificence. This book examines the real and perceived worlds of the maharaja from the early eighteenth century to 1947, when the Indian Princes ceded their territories into the modern states of India and Pakistan.

Author: Rachel Peat
Publisher: Royal Collection Editions
ISBN: 9781909741683
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Japan: Courts and Culture tells the story of three centuries of British royal contact with Japan, from 1603 to c.1937, when the exchange of exquisite works of art was central to both diplomatic relations and cultural communication. With discussions of courtly rituals, trade relationships, treaties, and other matters of concern between the two nations, this book provides important historical and political context in addition to granting a new look at the works of art in question. Featuring new research on previously unpublished works, including porcelain, lacquer, armor, embroidery, metalwork, and works on paper, this book showcases the unparalleled craftsmanship of these objects, and the local materials, techniques, and traditions behind them. Japan: Courts and Culture is published to accompany a spectacular exhibition of the same name, which opens at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, in June 2020. The book's stunning photography, contextual essays, and historical insights offer a highly visual record of a royal narrative and history that has not yet been widely documented.

Author: Marc Bascou
Publisher: Prestel Publishing
ISBN: 9783791352732
Category : Decorative arts
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This breathtaking survey of French royal patronage features full-color illustrations of more than 100 objects, many so precious that they rarely leave the Louvre. French decorative arts reached their pinnacle in craftsmanship and design between the reign of Louis XIV and the Revolution, beginning with the sumptuous works of art made at the Gobelins manufactory, which was established to furnish the royal palaces, and continuing with luxury pieces made in specialist workshops across Paris through the end of the ancient régime. This book reveals the story of patronage and collecting among the French kings and queens with some of the greatest works from the collection of the Musée du Louvre, Paris, alongside illuminating essays describing the history and background of these beautiful royal objects. Drawing from the Louvre's extraordinary Département des Objets d'Art, Royal Treasures from the Louvre examines the full breadth of decorative arts in 17th- and 18th-century France, offering readers a generous view into the splendor of the French court.

Author: Timothy Schroder
Publisher: British Museum Research Public
ISBN: 9780861592272
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
At center stage in this volume is the Royal Clock Salt, a national treasure from the courtly culture of the Renaissance and one of only a handful of treasures surviving from the Jewel House of Henry VIII. The volume sheds new light on an exquisite object that has beguiled owners and viewers for centuries.

Author: Christine de Pizan
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141961015
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Written by Europe’s first professional woman writer, The Treasure of the City of Ladies offers advice and guidance to women of all ages and from all levels of medieval society, from royal courtiers to prostitutes. It paints an intricate picture of daily life in the courts and streets of fifteenth-century France and gives a fascinating glimpse into the practical considerations of running a household, dressing appropriately and maintaining a reputation in all circumstances. Christine de Pizan’s book provides a valuable counterbalance to male accounts of life in the middle ages and demonstrates, often with dry humour, how a woman’s position in society could be made less precarious by following the correct etiquette.

Author: Joanne Pillsbury
Publisher: Getty Publications
ISBN: 1606065483
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
This volume accompanies a major international loan exhibition featuring more than three hundred works of art, many rarely or never before seen in the United States. It traces the development of gold working and other luxury arts in the Americas from antiquity until the arrival of Europeans in the early sixteenth century. Presenting spectacular works from recent excavations in Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico, this exhibition focuses on specific places and times—crucibles of innovation—where artistic exchange, rivalry, and creativity led to the production of some of the greatest works of art known from the ancient Americas. The book and exhibition explore not only artistic practices but also the historical, cultural, social, and political conditions in which luxury arts were produced and circulated, alongside their religious meanings and ritual functions. Golden Kingdoms creates new understandings of ancient American art through a thematic exploration of indigenous ideas of value and luxury. Central to the book is the idea of the exchange of materials and ideas across regions and across time: works of great value would often be transported over long distances, or passed down over generations, in both cases attracting new audiences and inspiring new artists. The idea of exchange is at the intellectual heart of this volume, researched and written by twenty scholars based in the United States and Latin America.