Category: Ancient

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Ancient

Metalworking in Bronze Age China: The Lost-Wax Process by Peng Peng

Coming from the Steel City, metal is in our blood, and so is all things artsy – objects made with metals. China has led the world in metalworking, as witness by the advanced science and technology developed by China in the areas of metalworking. This month we bring to you a wonderful book on the history, and evolution of metal working in bronze age China. Read on…

Metalworking in Bronze Age China is the first study that adopts a comprehensive, thorough, and interdisciplinary approach toward early Chinese lost-wax castings. It shows that the dominant belief that the lost-wax process as the optimal method for casting bronzes deserves more rigorous examination. In a broader sense, the book provides a study on the “norms,” which are seldom questioned. By examining the reasons why Chinese founders often chose not to use the lost-wax process they had clearly mastered, the book refutes the idea that lost-wax technology is the only “right way” to cast bronzes. This study demonstrates that a “norm” is in many ways an illusion that twists our comprehension of art, technology, civilization, and history.

From the book description

This book will be a wonderful addition to your library, and is a great conversation starter around the coffee table. For the globally aware, this is a veritable treasure. Call you book store in advance to check availability.

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Ancient Museums

Art in the Eurasian Iron Age: Context, Connections and Scale by Courtney Nimura

Iron Age. Because Iron was a killer-app! It led to the rise of civilizations, agriculture, industry, and accelerated war outcomes. However, a little noticed aspect of Iron Age is also the immense rise in art objects during the period. This new book on the subject by Courtney Nimura examines this ancient period’s art from close quarters. Read on…

Since early discoveries of so-called Celtic Art during the 19th century, archaeologists have mused on the origins of this major art tradition, which emerged in Europe around 500 BC. Classical influence has often been cited as the main impetus for this new and distinctive way of decorating, but although Classical and Celtic Art share certain motifs, many of the design principles behind the two styles differ fundamentally. Instead, the idea that Celtic Art shares its essential forms and themes of transformation and animism with Iron Age art from across northern Eurasia has recently gained currency, partly thanks to a move away from the study of motifs in prehistoric art and towards considerations of the contexts in which they appear.

This volume explores Iron Age art at different scales and specifically considers the long-distance connections, mutual influences and shared ‘ways of seeing’ that link Celtic Art to other art traditions across northern Eurasia. It brings together 13 papers on varied subjects such as animal and human imagery, technologies of production and the design theory behind Iron Age art, balancing pan-Eurasian scale commentary with regional and site scale studies and detailed analyses of individual objects, as well as introductory and summary papers. This multi-scalar approach allows connections to be made across wide geographical areas, whilst maintaining the detail required to carry out sensitive studies of objects.

From the book description

For readers with a keen interest in archaeology and ancient art, this is an excellent book, well written, thoroughly researched, and richly illustrated. Widely available at all leading bookstores, get your copy now!

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Ancient Latin America Museums

The Market for Mesoamerica: Reflections on the Sale of Pre-Columbian Antiquities by Cara G. Tremain

Trade and possession of antiquities has always fascinated art aficionados. This month we present to you, in this series, a very interesting book by Cara G. Temain on the sale of pre-Columbian Antiquities. It examines the entire economic chain behind Central American art objects through a broad lens and the readers who would like to learn more about this oft-forgotten part of the world will find it a very interesting book. Read on…

Pre-Columbian artifacts are among the most popular items on the international antiquities market, yet it is becoming increasingly difficult to monitor these items as public, private, and digital sales proliferate. This timely volume explores past, current, and future policies and trends concerning the sales and illicit movement of artifacts from Mesoamerica to museums and private collections.

Informed by the fields of anthropology, economics, law, and criminology, contributors critically analyze practices of research and collecting in Central American countries. They assess the circulation of looted and forged artifacts on the art market and in museums and examine government and institutional policies aimed at fighting trafficking. They also ask if and how scholars can use materials removed from their context to interpret the past.

The theft of cultural heritage items from their places of origin is a topic of intense contemporary discussion, and The Market for Mesoamerica updates our knowledge of this issue by presenting undocumented and illicit antiquities within a regional and global context. Through discussion of transparency, accountability, and ethical practice, this volume ultimately considers how antiquities can be protected and studied through effective policy and professional practice.

From the book description

Heading into the holiday season, this book is a great find and a fine addition to your library or those of your friends. This one book offers much more between its covers than several semesters of learning art economics at the art school. Definitely for the academically oriented. Widely available at all leading book stores. Get your copy now!

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Ancient India Museums

Art and Archaeology of Ancient India: Earliest Times to the Sixth Century by Naman P. Ahuja

Wishing all our readers Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. This month we bring to you a topic that is very close to us – Art in Ancient India. For those who know India also know about the wonderful art of Ancient India – be it through sculptures, statues, cave paintings, or other archaeological finds. This fascinating book from Naman P. Ahuja pulls all these resources together to create an engrossing volume on the subject. Read on…

• This book covers all early Indian objects (pre-600 AD) held by the Department of Eastern Art in the Ashmolean Museum • Contains previously unpublished material • New photography for all objectsThe Ashmolean Museum is fortunate in having the most comprehensive British collection of the art of the Indian subcontinent outside London. Especially strong in sculpture, this rich representation of Indian art from prehistory to the twentieth century has come about through the generosity of our benefactors over more than three centuries. The Museum’s first major Indian sculpture acquisition, a stone Pala-style Vishnu image of the eleventh century, was given in 1686 by Sir William Hedges, a governor of the East India Company in Bengal. From the late nineteenth century, a substantial core of the present collection was assembled at the University’s former Indian Institute Museum (1897-1962), precursor of the Department of Eastern Art, which opened within the Ashmolean in 1963. Since that date many more Indian objects of all periods have been acquired by gift, bequest or purchase.

From the book description

If you are still looking for a new year gift for yourselves or for someone else, this book will be an excellent purchase. Widely available now. Get your copy today.

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Ancient Europe Roman

The Art of the Roman Empire: 100-450 AD by Jas Elsner

The Roman Empire and its rise and decline has been the subject of uncountable works. This ancient civilization continues to fascinate us with its so many contributions to the civilization that we know today. However, not many care about the Roman Empire’s art during its waning years. This month we bring to you an adventurous account of the Roman Art during its decline. Read on…

The passage from Imperial Rome to the era of late antiquity, when the Roman Empire underwent a religious conversion to Christianity, saw some of the most significant and innovative developments in Western culture. This stimulating book investigates the role of the visual arts, the great diversity of paintings, statues, luxury arts, and masonry, as both reflections and agents of those changes.

Jas’ Elsner’s ground-breaking account discusses both Roman and early Christian art in relation to such issues as power, death, society, acculturation, and religion. By examining questions of reception, viewing, and the culture of spectacle alongside the more traditional art-historical themes of imperial patronage and stylistic change, he presents a fresh and challenging interpretation of an extraordinarily rich cultural crucible in which many fundamental developments of later European art had their origins.

This second edition includes a new discussion of the Eurasian context of Roman art, an updated bibliography, and new, full colour illustrations.

This is a fascinating, almost groundbreaking work by an accomplished team. Followers of history will most definitely enjoy this academically oriented collection. Widely available at leading bookstores.

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Ancient Religious Society

Egypt. People, Gods, Pharaohs Hardcover by Rainer & Rose-Marie Hagen

For most us, Ancient Egypt, marvelous as it is, is still but a chapter in our history books, or a convenient setting for a swashbuckling western hero trying to find meaning in his or her life through a wild adventure into the mystique of objects forgotten and rituals remembered. This collection is breathtaking in scope and intense in focus.

How much do we really know about Ancient Egypt? The pharaohs and pyramids are familiar history fodder, but what about the farmers, the soldiers, the laborers, and the families that made up the vast majority of this much mythologized civilization?

With a thrilling spread of visual references, this TASCHEN adventure attempts to set the record straight by offering a distinctive everyday take on Ancient Egypt. Like a piece of published excavation, the book explores the many layers of this ancient society, digging down from the sacred or grandiose to the daily experiences and ordinary individuals.

The democratic approach bestows this distant era with exciting vitality and relevance for all the family. As we explore everything from family arrangements to leisure activities to labor movements, we not only uncover the different experiences of this ancient land but also parallels and precedents to our own societies. The result is a particularly vivid encounter with an ancient age and with some of our most ingenious and influential forebears.

From the book description

Readers with a keen interest in the history of civilizations will greatly appreciate this nice collection with detailed descriptions and tireless commentary on an ancient civilization that continues to feed our imagination and endless possibilities. Available at very limited number of book stores. You will need to call ahead to check availability.

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