Paul Holberton Publishing |

Tibetan Elemental Divination Paintings: Illuminated Manuscript from The White Beryl of Sangs-rGyas rgya-mtsho

432 pages, hardback in cloth-covered, silk lined box, 435 x 355 mm, over 1000 colour illustrations
PRICE: £200.00
ISBN: 9780953994106

This extraordinary publication represents a landmark in both Tibetan studies and the art of bookmaking. It presents for the first time two magnificent eighteenth-century manuscripts illuminating in exquisite detail the essential but little-known practices of elemental divination as described in The White Beryl – an important seventeenth-century treatise written by Sangs-rgyas rGya-mtsho (1653–1705), the rekowned polymath who was regent to the Fifth Dalai Lama. Read more

Xanto: Pottery-painter, Poet, Man of the Renaissance

WINNER of The Art Newspaper / AXA Exhibition Catalogue Award 2007. Francesco Xanto Avelli da Rovigo was an intriguing artist who painted some of the most beautiful and fascinating ceramics produced in Renaissance Italy. With surfaces entirely painted with scenes from classical literature, Roman history or the Bible, his dishes were much sought after by the educated elite of his time, and continue to fascinate ceramics enthusiasts today... More

Adam Elsheimer 1578-1610

"What is remarkable about this volume is the number of quality reproductions of the artist's work that can be seen together for the first time. This collection of paintings demonstrates more comprehensively than ever before Elsheimer's extraordinary intuition for light and atmosphere..." Antiques Magazine More

Catalogue of Paintings at the Wellington Museum, Apsley House

Seldom has there been a gift of equal magnificence. In 1947 the 7th Duke of Wellington presented to the nation his London residence – Apsley House – together with a large part of its contents, the collection of the 1st Duke. Among the paintings are some of the finest canvases from the Spanish Royal Collection, captured by the 1st Duke of Wellington from Joseph Bonaparte in 1813. There are also important seventeenth-century Dutch paintings bought by the 1st Duke himself, as well as a series of French and British portraits of his illustrious contemporaries and depictions of battle scenes, which provide a visual record of the Napoleonic period. More

Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence: The Courtauld Wedding Chests

Accompanying an exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery, this catalogue explores one of the most important and historically neglected art forms of Renaissance Florence: cassoni – pairs of chests that were lavishly decorated with precious metals and elaborate paintings and were often the most expensive of a whole suite of decorative objects commissioned to celebrate marriage alliances between powerful families. More

Cameroon - Art of the Kings

The ancient kingdoms of the Cameroon Grassfields are famous for their splendid artworks – thrones ornamented with precious European beads, wooden figures sculptured by unknown masters, enormous drums, finely carved jewellery made from ivory and brass, as well as fabulous masks. This exhibition catalogue presents 150 impressive masterpieces from the courts of the Grassfield kingdoms. More

Treasures of the Black Death

In the middle of the fourteenth century, Europe was devastated by an appalling epidemic which killed a third of its population. Accused of having spread the disease, Jewish communities faced terrible persecutions, which often led them to bury their most valuable goods. Two of these hoards, discovered at Colmar in 1863 and at Erfurt in 1998, are discussed and illustrated in this splendid catalogue, published to accompany an exhibition at the Wallace Collection London. More

Masters and Pupils: The Artistic Succession from Perugino to Manet 1480–1880

This book is about a family tree: the line of descent that can be traced from Perugino in Italy in the fifteenth century to Edouard Manet in France in the nineteenth. It is not the usual kind of genealogy, of those connected by blood, more an ‘apostolic succession’, following the way in which art in Europe was taught, from one generation to the next, from 1480 to 1880. More

Eccentric Visions: The Worlds of Luo Ping (1733–1799)

Known today as the youngest of the remarkable "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou", Luo Ping was one of the most versatile, original, and celebrated artists in eighteenth-century China. This accompanies an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, of works drawn primarily from leading museums in China, and will include rarely seen masterpieces as well as overlooked or unpublished works to provide a broad spectrum of Luo’s multiple talents and extraordinary pictorial prowess. More

William Orpen: An Onlooker in France

"...a memorable and beautiful reminder of the outstanding abilities of this truly great Irish artist". (Bruce Arnold, Irish Independent) The best known of the Official War Artists sent to France, Orpen was the only one to publish an extensive memoir of his experiences and observations. He was a talented writer, and his accounts of the last two years of the Great War and the Peace Conference that followed it are vivid, lucid and shrewd. The book ends with a passionate indictment of politicians and their mismanagement of the War, and the rapidity with which the ordinary soldier was forgotten. This compelling book was first published in 1921. More