The Arnhold porcelain collection is the most important of the great pre-war Meissen collections to have survived intact, remaining with the descendants of the original collectors Heinrich and Lisa Arnhold. Most of the pieces date from the first decades of the royal factory established by August II, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, in 1710, featuring a broad range of early works, much of it experimental. Brought to America in the 1940's ahead of the family's move from Dresden, Henry Arnhold has continued to expand its depth and range, resulting in a rich and personal collection. This volume contains essays by Sebastian Kuhn and Heike Biedermann, and is introduced by Henry's Arnhold's personal recollection of his family as collectors and art patrons in Dresden and of how the porcelain collection was created.
How do our senses help us to understand the world? This question, which preoccupied Enlightenment thinkers, also emerged as a key theme in depictions of animals in eighteenth-century art. This book examines the ways in which painters such as Chardin, as well as sculptors, porcelain modelers, and other decorative designers portrayed animals as sensing subjects who physically confirmed the value of material experience. The sensual style known today as the Rococo encouraged the proliferation of animals as exemplars of empirical inquiry, ranging from the popular subject of the monkey artist to the alchemical wonders of the life-sized porcelain animals created for the Saxon court. Examining writings on sensory knowledge by La Mettrie, Condillac, Diderot and other philosophers side by side with depictions of the animal in art, Cohen argues that artists promoted the animal as a sensory subject while also validating the material basis of their own professional practice.
An exploration of the ways early modern European artists have visualized continents through the female (sometimes male) body to express their perceptions of newly encountered peoples. Often stereotypical, these personifications are however more complex than what they seem.
Affecting Grace examines the importance of Shakespeare’s poetry and plays within German literature and thought after 1750 – including its relationship to German classicism, which favoured unreflected ease over theatricality. Kenneth S. Calhoon examines this tension against an extensive backdrop that includes a number of canonical German authors – Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Lessing, von Kleist, and Nietzsche – as well as the advent of Meissen porcelain, the painting of Bernardo Bellotto and Francesco Guardi, and aspects of German styles of architecture. Extending from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (c. 1597) to Kleist’s The Broken Jug (1806), this study turns on the paradox that the German literary world had begun to embrace Shakespeare just as it was firming up the broad but pronounced anti-Baroque sensibility found pivotally in Lessing’s critical and dramatic works. Through these investigations, Calhoon illuminates the deep cultural changes that fundamentally affected Germany’s literary and artistic traditions.
Affecting Grace examines the importance of Shakespeare's poetry and plays within German literature and thought after 1750 including its relationship to German classicism, which favoured unreflected ease over theatricality. Kenneth S. Calhoon examines this tension against an extensive backdrop that includes a number of canonical German authors Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Lessing, von Kleist, and Nietzsche as well as the advent of Meissen porcelain, the painting of Bernardo Bellotto and Francesco Guardi, and aspects of German styles of architecture. Extending from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (c. 1597) to Kleist's The Broken Jug (1806), this study turns on the paradox that the German literary world had begun to embrace Shakespeare just as it was firming up the broad but pronounced anti-Baroque sensibility found pivotally in Lessing's critical and dramatic works. Through these investigations, Calhoon illuminates the deep cultural changes that fundamentally affected Germany's literary and artistic traditions.
Meissen porcelain is eagerly collected throughout the world and traded vigorously at antique shows, auctions, and on the Internet. Of the few books available on this beautiful German porcelain, none includes current market values - but Jim and Susan Harran's new Meissen Porcelain does! The authors of the bestselling three-volume series, Collectible Cups & Saucers, and another volume, Dresden Porcelain Studios, have produced a book that features everyday items available in the marketplace, not the eighteenth century museum pieces found in many Meissen books. The majority of pieces featured date from the mid-nineteenth century through the 1950s. More than 625 color photographs are included, along with a helpful marks section. Meissen Porcelain provides historical information about the beautiful city of Meissen and a brief history of the Meissen manufactory itself, as well as discussions on decorating motifs and how Meissen porcelain is made. The book includes chapters on decorative porcelain, flower painting, Oriental motifs, Meissen's famous Blue Onion pattern, figures, copycats, and useful information for the collector.
Porcelain imported from China was the most highly coveted new medium in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Europe. Its pure white color, translucency, and durability, as well as the delicacy of decoration, were impossible to achieve in European earthenware and stoneware. In response, European ceramic factories set out to discover the process of producing porcelain in the Chinese manner, with significant artistic, technical, and commercial ramifications for Britain and the Continent. Indeed, not only artisans, but kings, noble patrons, and entrepreneurs all joined in the quest, hoping to gain both prestige and profit from the enterprises they established. This beautifully illustrated volume showcases ninety works that span the late sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century and reflect the major currents of European porcelain production. Each work is illustrated with glorious new photography, accompanied by analysis and interpretation by one of the leading experts in European decorative arts. Among the wide range of porcelains selected are rare blue-and-white wares and figures from Italy, superb examples from the Meissen factory in Germany and the Sèvres factory in France, and ceramics produced by leading British eighteenth-century artisans. Taken together, they reveal why the Metropolitan Museum’s holdings in this field are among the finest in the world. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Verdana}
While imported Chinese porcelain had become a valuable commodity in Europe in the seventeenth century, local attempts to produce porcelain long remained unsuccessful. At last the secret of hard-paste porcelain was uncovered, and in 1710 the first European porcelain was manufactured in Saxony. Meissen porcelain, still manufactured today, soon ranked in value with silver and gold. This thorough and lavishly illustrated volume explores the early years of Meissen porcelain and how the princes of Saxony came to use highly prized porcelain pieces as diplomatic gifts for presentation to foreign courts. An eminent team of international contributors examines the trade of Meissen with other nations, from England to Russia. They also investigate the cultural ambience of the Dresden Court, varying tastes of the markets, the wide range of porcelain objects, and their designers and makers. Individual chapters are devoted to gifts to Denmark, other German courts, the Holy Roman Empire, Italy, France, and other nations. For every Meissen collector or enthusiast, this book will be not only a treasured handbook but also a source of visual delight.
This groundbreaking study examines decorative Chinese works of art and visual culture, known as chinoiserie, in the context of church and state politics, with a particular focus on the Catholic missionsÕ impact on Western attitudes toward China and the Chinese. Art-historical examinations of chinoiserie have largely ignored the role of the Church and its conversion efforts in Asia. Johns, however, demonstrates that the emperorÕs 1722 prohibition against Catholic evangelization, which occurred after almost a century and a half of tolerance, prompted a remarkable change in European visualizations of China in Roman Catholic countries. ChinaandtheChurch considers the progress of Christianity in China during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, examines authentic works of Chinese art available to the European artists who produced chinoiserie, and explains how the East Asian male body in Western art changed from ÒnormativeÓ depictions to whimsical, feminized grotesques after the collapse of the missionary efforts during the 1720s.
“Roll-up-your-sleeves advice on throwing pottery, growing dahlias, cooking her tried-and-true recipes, and everything in between.” —Martha Stewart Living “Guaranteed to, as its title insists, inspire. . . . Demands to be viewed again and again and again.” —Booklist, starred review To step into potter Frances Palmer’s world is to be surrounded by the trappings of a life that has been intentionally—and painstakingly—built to maximize creativity. A light-filled, airy studio in which to make her pottery, with a corner always at the ready for her daily photo shoots. Cutting gardens overflowing with flowers to be snipped as inspiration strikes. Shelves of cookbooks to peruse as she plans the menu of her next dinner party, and museum catalogs and art books to pore over when it’s time to imagine a new vessel. After 30 years as an artist and entrepreneur, Palmer has learned how to cultivate a life that brings out her best. Those years have been at once rewarding and challenging, fruitful and fraught, and through it all, she has discovered the things that matter most: determination, routine, prioritization, perseverance, and perspective. She has distilled these hard-won lessons, and more, into her debut book, a manual for current and aspiring creatives. The book is loosely arranged chronologically, beginning with Palmer’s background in art history and the foundations of her pottery practice through to the day-to-day of running her successful business and tending to her ever-evolving gardens, and culminating in the continuous exploration and collaboration she is engaged in today. Along the way, readers are brought behind the scenes with hundreds of gorgeous photographs (of her ceramics, her beautiful flower arrangements, her gardens, and more), and even step-by-step instructions for her most cherished techniques and recipes. It all adds up to a one-of-a-kind portrait and handbook for a creative life, well-lived.
