Category: Museums

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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!

Categories
Cartography Museums

An Atlas of Geographical Wonders: From Mountaintops to Riverbeds by Gilles Palsky

One doesn’t need to be a cartographer to appreciate the beauty of maps. This month we bring to you a unique book – a geographical atlas with stunning illustrations of various geographical features with a focus on mountain and rivers. These maps were produced during the 1800s primarily to aid the imperial adventures abroad. Read on…

This is the first book to catalog comparative maps and tableaux that visualize the heights and lengths of the world’s mountains and rivers. Produced predominantly in the nineteenth century, these beautifully rendered maps emerged out of the tide of exploration and scientific developments in measuring techniques. Beginning with the work of explorer Alexander von Humboldt, these historic drawings reveal a world of artistic and imaginative difference. Many of them give way—and with visible joy—to the power of fantasy in a mesmerizing array of realistic and imaginary forms. Most of the maps are from the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection at Stanford University.

From the book description

Readers who are keen observers of geography are sure to enjoy this wonderful collection. This book is not widely available, so you may like to call ahead and check with your local book store.

Categories
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.

Categories
Colonial Decorative Arts Museums Pottery

Ceramics: 400 Years of British Collecting in 100 Masterpieces by Patricia F. Ferguson

Happy New Year! Wow! What a treat! While the British Empire was busy plundering its colonies, they brought back all these artifacts which find places in various museums around the world, but of course, the most significant aspect is, plundering it was, and no nation has a right to forcefully remove from a people elements of their heritage. Not all were forcibly taken, admitted. This has been a widely accepted as a global principle. Regardless, the sad and unfortunate motivations for this collections should not stop you from enjoying this beautiful collection – an ode to the original creators of ceramics artwork around the world.

Winner of the 2017 American Ceramics Circle Book of the Year Award

The aim of this publication is to introduce the rich and varied ceramics in the National Trust’s vast and encyclopedic collection, numbering approximately 75,000 artifacts, housed in 250 historic properties in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. One hundred key pieces have been selected from this rich treasure trove, each contributing to our knowledge of ceramic patronage and history, revealing the very personal stories of ownership, display, taste, and consumption.

The selection includes the following Continental wares: “Red-figure” wares, Italian armorial tablewares, Dutch Delft from the Greek A factory – owned by Adrianus Kocx – Chinese Kraak ware, Dehua ware, Japanese Kakiemon-style and Imari-style tablewares and garnitures, Meissen table sculpture by Johann Joachim Kändler and tablewares attributed to Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck, Castelli fayence from the Grue workshop, and wares from the following porcelain manufactories: Doccia, Vienna, Vincennes, Sèvres, Dihl, and Feulliet.
English pottery and porcelain includes delftware, salt-glazed stoneware, creamware, Wedgwood Black Basalt and Etruscan ware, Chelsea, Bow, Worcester, and Derby porcelain, Minton China, De Morgan, and Martin ware.
And from the Americas, Pueblo ware.

Many are published for the first time, sometimes illustrated in their original interiors. Collectively, the selection surveys patterns of ceramic collecting by the British aristocracy and gentry over a four hundred year period.

From the book description

Readers fond of collectors’ items are sure to enjoy looking at the stunning pictures and holding back the desire to touch, own, and possess these works of art. A desire that the looters could not resist. Available at select book stores.

Categories
Asia India Museums

Treasures Of Salarjung Museum by Dr. Shobita Punja

It is rare to see such a wonderful collection put together at home. We are delighted to introduce this great work of by Dr. Shobita Punja. Reader who’d like to understand Indian heritage better will greatly appreciate this curated collection of art.

This book highlights treasures of the Salar Jung Museum, showcasing the extraordinary personal collection of the Salar Jung family, presented under five themes. It includes Indian art, pan-Asian art, European art and many other rare and ancient treasures.

From the book description

This book is not widely available. Please contact us to check availability and prices.

Meanwhile, wishing all the readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2016! We will meet again next month.

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