280 x 245 mm, paperback, 154 pages, 160 colour illustrations
PRICE: £30.00
ISBN: 978 0 900785 83 2
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The 4th Marquess of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace were both passionate collectors of miniatures, exquisite small paintings in watercolour or enamel, generally made for private contemplation and one of the most popular mediums of portraiture in an age before the advent of photography. This book presents one of the major British collections of miniatures, a group of over 330 works which formed part of the generous bequest to the British nation made by Lady Wallace in 1897. The collection includes by far the best group of French miniatures in Britain, as well as fine examples of English miniature painting and works from other schools.
The publication celebrates the recent opening of a new gallery at Hertford House devoted to miniatures and gold boxes, the Boudoir Cabinet. It features over seventy of the finest miniatures in the Wallace Collection, all of them reproduced in colour, most for the first time. The volume spans the period from the mid-sixteenth to the late nineteenth centuries. The entries include much new information on the miniatures and are accompanied by images of related works in the Wallace Collection and elsewhere. There are introductory essays on the history of the collection and on French eighteenth-century miniatures, a particular highlight of the collection.
Exceptional among English language publications in its focus on French miniatures, this book offers a fascinating and tantalising glimpse into the magical world of the miniature.
Made from scraps and slivers of wood, ivory, bone, stag-antler and metal, netsuke developed from a simple utilitarian toggle worn at the belt into a fine art. Some of it made geniuses. This book brings together prime examples of these delightful treasures – a rare and perfectly formed horse by Masanao of Kyoto; an extraordinary Ashinaga and Tenaga by Totenko; a fine study of a running boar with a snake upon its back, a masterpiece by Naito Toyomasa. More
Spanning some 350 years, the Thomson Collection of historic ship models contains examples of exquisite workmanship and some of the masterpieces of the genre. Pride of the collection are the rare British dockyard models made to scale for affluent 18th-century clients closely associated with the Navy. More
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
Accompanying a major international exhibition at the Wallace Collection (17 May – 16 September 2012), this book celebrates the artistic and cultural importance of the sword, as a symbol of power and prestige, as a flamboyant fashion statement and as an icon of the Age of Discovery. More
This book examines how with the Japanese craftsman's intuitive sense of aesthetics and design the tsuba's utilitarian origins reached into the realms of fine art. The collection paints a picture of the Japanese tsubako, successfully representing both classic and everyday tsuba and fittings, work of the exacting levels demanded by the Daimyo and their samurai. More
This book explores the surprising heights of the idiosyncratic lone Japanese artist, the odd man out, experimenting his way through the fine arts and laying his own pathway forwards as he did. It is intended as a joyous celebration of his genius. Dating from the late 17th to the early 20th century, 69 special and individual works of painting, sculpture, ceramic, lacquer, fancy metalwork and a striking selection of pipecases and their sagemono, inro and netsuke in various materials, are catalogued with beautiful photography and detailed descriptions. More
There is an excitement to eccentric netsuke, and a dimension of an artistic personality and vision which raises these creations from the level of craft to art. The simple fact is that individual, experimental netsuke are much more difficult to understand than identifiable hack work – even great hack work – and are therefore much more gratifying when one does understand them. More
The Wallace Collection's assembly of European arms and armour sits comfortably amongst the most significant collections of its kind in the UK. Accordingly, the book 'Masterpieces of European Arms and Armour...' draws attention to a selection of the most refined and tantalising pieces examining them in an "armoury historical" context. Particularly noteworthy are a medieval "Viking age" sword, a golden tournament helmet of Emperor Ferdinand I (1555), and a flint-lock pistol c. 1738-44 of Prince Louis, Dauphin of France. More
Literati material finds its way into parts of the brain which regular works of antiquity cannot reach; the convoluted twists of cunning poetic allusions, themselves referring back and further back, to old writings, inscriptions on stone, legendary heroes and their mottoes, and not infrequent misquotes, can catch the unwary seeker after meaning in their complex web, causing him to lose all sense of afternoons and sometimes days. While one can admire Chinese literati works for their purely visual appeal and intimate, personable presence, it is their literary content that renders them so endlessly individual and subjective of interpretation. More
A comprehensive survey of the major schools and masters in 66 fine examples, this catalogue is an indication of the developing serious interest in netsuke. Several full-colour photographs of each work, taken from every useful angle, accompany educative and entertaining text. More
The third and last in the series of catalogues and exhibitions on the endlessly diverse subject of artworks which reflect the culture of the Chinese scholar class and some of the individuals who comprised it. It follows on the heels of Documentary Chinese Works of Art in Scholars' Taste and Emperor Scholar Artisan Monk. Over 160 fine examples of painting, calligraphy and desk or scholastic objects, dating from the 15th to the 20th century, are presented with colour photographs and detailed, educative entries. More
Stained glass was unknown in antiquity. Invented around AD 1000, it soon achieved a dominant position in the arts of the Middle Ages, not only in churches but also in secular contexts. Its innovation can be compared with that of television – and like television it involves passing light through a transparent layer, using the light of sun instead of light generated by electricity, so that in a real sense the stained glass image is in constant motion, as the light passing through it changes. More
After more than 15 years in business Tomasso Brothers are delighted to be hosting their spectacular debut sculpture exhibtion at Adam Williams Fine Art, New York. To mark this seminal exhibition of more than 40 important works they have produced a luxurious catalogue, which aims to represent and describe the sculptures through sophisticated photographs and informative catalogue descriptions. More