Chinese Books
This catalogue discusses and illustrates a wide variety of Chinese books, dating from the sixth to the nineteenth century -- some very rare. More
Manuscripts
Amorous Delight: The Amarushataka Palm-Leaf Manuscript. Illustrated by the Master of Sharanakula in the 19th Century (Orissa, India)
256 pages, hardback, 31 x 23 cm, 300 illustrations
PRICE: £35.00
ISBN: 978 3 907077 21 4
Customers in the US or Canada, CLICK HERE
By Eberhard Fischer and Dinanath Pathy
Around 1800, an anonymous engraver in Sharanakula, a small temple place on the southern coast of Orissa, illustrated a palm-leaf anthology of love poems. The one hundred Sanskrit quatrains, which are said to be the work of the 7th-century poet Amaru, describe the behaviour of enamoured couples, their longing for each other, the lovers’ anxieties, their ecstatic joy as well as their doubts and sorrows. In India, these quatrains have at all times been cherished for their elegant language. Then, two hundred years ago, a great master-engraver visualised these verses in many small but meticulously executed and richly detailed illustrations. The erotic scenes in particular are of remarkable quality.
This publication was praised as one of the hundred most beautiful books of Switzerland in 2006 and won an award.
Eberhard Fischer, former director of the Rietberg Museum, published, together with eminent Indian scholars or artists like Dinanath Pathy, several books on Indian art.
Turkish Bookbinding
Produced for the Association Internationale de Bibliophilie, this book traces the development of the early Ottoman style under influence from their neighbours; the impact of the patronage of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror; and the development of the ‘classical’ style under his successor Bayezid II. A catalogue section provides beautiful illustrations of 41 masterpieces of bookbinding; with technical appendices, bibliography, concordance and index. More
Ink and Gold: Masterpieces of Islamic Calligraphy
Given the status of the Qur‘an as the eternal and uncreated word of Allah, the art of the pen became the focus of an extraordinary energy in the Muslim world. Ink and Gold charts the development of Islamic calligraphy – the noblest, most stylized and original of the Islamic arts – over a period of some 1200 years, from its beginnings in the Arabian Peninsula. More
Islamic Manuscripts
The selection consists of Qur’ans, illustrated Islamic manuscripts and scientific and religious manuscripts. All are handsomely illustrated and fully discussed. The manuscripts are from all parts of the Islamic world and represent the finest achievements of the form. More