APRIL 2012
376 pages, 280 x 240 mm, hardback, 475 illustrations
PRICE: £60.00
ISBN: 978 1 907372 35 3
Silver, porcelain and ruby glass seem unlikely bedfellows, yet the objects in the Zilkha Collection are all united by the medium of silver or luxury metalwork. The objects were also made, for the most part, over about a century and a half. All of them tell a fascinating story of the particular circumstances that produced them: a maker, a workshop, a patron. They also tell the wider story of the society that made them necessary or desirable; the science that made them possible; and of their survival down the centuries. Therefore their appeal is more than just aesthetic, and their design and decoration often speak of the intellectual or religious climate of their time. Some objects incorporate exotic materials such as Indian mother of pearl reflecting the developing world trade; others encapsulate emerging technologies such as the making of ruby glass or porcelain.
Yet, this is not a museum collection nor is it displayed like one. It is lived with and shares its surroundings with its owners and their guests. It is not kept behind glass and the juxtapositions are sometimes odd but always engaging: Renaissance silver was not conceived – quite obviously – to sit on great eighteenth-century French furniture, nor Hanoverian royal plate to share space with Italian sculpture and contemporary paintings, yet somehow these pairings work without in any way diminishing the objects.
This book, which will be of interest to serious students of the decorative arts, has a wider purpose too: it aims to show something of these old objects in the context of an early twenty-first-century Californian home and in the lives and interests of the collectors who have brought them together.
Timothy Schroder joined the silver department at Christie's in 1976 and became curator of decorative arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1984, returning to England in 1989. Subsequent roles include Curator of the Gilbert Collection at Sommerset House and Consultant Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a liveryman of the Goldsmiths' Company as well as a member of the London Diocesan Advisory Committee and chairman of the Silver Society. His publications include: Renaissance Silver from the Schroder Collection (2007) and British and Continental Gold and Silver in the Ashmolean Museum (2009).
Of exquisite workmanship, the Wallace gold boxes share the elaborate richness of the larger-scale French 18th-century art in the collection, but on an intimate and jewel-like scale. Most of the boxes were made in Paris during the 18th century and were used as snuff containers. More
Johann Christian Neuber (1736–1808) was a goldsmith and mineralogist at the Saxon Court. In 1769 he became director of the Grünes Gewölbe, the magnificent State Treasury, and was appointed court jeweler in 1775. This lavishly illustrated book will give readers their first comprehensive introduction to the master craftsman's oeuvre presenting boxes and other decorative objects from the Grünes Gewölbe, the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as public and private collections in Germany, France and New York. More
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
Few realise that gold can be found in Great Britain, and that attempts to exploit native sources have drawn prospectors from ancient Rome to Elizabethan adventurers and current commercial projects in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In Gold: Power and Allure, 11 essays by distinguished specialists tell of the rich and previously untold story of Britain and its relationship with gold, demonstrating the country's unique golden heritage. More
The Wallace Collection has the finest collection of eighteenth-century furniture outside France. Numbering over five hundred pieces, it includes furniture by the greatest Parisian cabinet makers, beginning with André-Charles Boulle and continuing through the major craftsmen of the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI. More
The remarkable collection of eighteenth-century Sèvres porcelain acquired by the Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace between c. 1802 and c. 1875 now forms a distinguished part of The Wallace Collection.It is here catalogued as a set of three volumes - Volume One: Vases, Volume Two: Tea wares, useful wares, biscuit figures and plaques, Volume Three: References, appendices and index. More
All the exquisite glasses and Limoges painted enamels in the Wallace Collection are published together for the first time as part of a new series of catalogues raisonnés. Approximately sixty glasses and thirty painted enamels are showcased within the catalogue, demonstrating both the delicacy of colour and technical superiority of Venetian and Venetian-style glass, as well as the vibrancy and relflective character of Limoges enamels. Of particular significance among the glassware are a calcedonio goblet, a trick-glass tazza and a chalice-shaped goblet enamelled with the Crucifixtion, whilst the finest Limoges enamels are lavishly embellished with religious and secular iconography. More
This beautifully designed and illustrated book celebrates the career of Jonathan Horne FSA, international authority on English pottery and for forty years a London dealer at the top of his field. Encompassing a broad range of new research this book is a lasting tribute to Jonathan Horne’s many services to English pottery, a subject to which his insight, warmth and scholarship has contributed so much. More
Marquetry – creating patterns and pictures through inlaid veneers – has long been recognised as one of the most attractive and sophisticated methods of decoration fine furniture. Illuminating the marvellous world of beauty conjured up by superlative French craftsmen, including André-Charles Boulle, Jean-François Oeben and Jean-Henri Riesener, this book also reveals the technical secrets of this special art form, its sources and history. More
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