New Approaches to Ancient Material Culture in the Greek & Roman World
New Approaches to Ancient Material Culture in the Greek & Roman World

Author: Catherine Cooper

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-11-16

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 9004440755

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This book highlights the diversity of current methodologies in Classical Archaeology. It includes papers about archaeology and art history, museum objects and fieldwork data, texts and material culture, archaeological theory and historiography, and technical and literary analysis, across Classical Antiquity.

Luxury Arts of the Renaissance
Luxury Arts of the Renaissance

Author: Marina Belozerskaya

Publisher: Getty Publications

Published: 2005-10-01

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 0892367857

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Today we associate the Renaissance with painting, sculpture, and architecture—the “major” arts. Yet contemporaries often held the “minor” arts—gem-studded goldwork, richly embellished armor, splendid tapestries and embroideries, music, and ephemeral multi-media spectacles—in much higher esteem. Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua, was typical of the Italian nobility: she bequeathed to her children precious stone vases mounted in gold, engraved gems, ivories, and antique bronzes and marbles; her favorite ladies-in-waiting, by contrast, received mere paintings. Renaissance patrons and observers extolled finely wrought luxury artifacts for their exquisite craftsmanship and the symbolic capital of their components; paintings and sculptures in modest materials, although discussed by some literati, were of lesser consequence. This book endeavors to return to the mainstream material long marginalized as a result of historical and ideological biases of the intervening centuries. The author analyzes how luxury arts went from being lofty markers of ascendancy and discernment in the Renaissance to being dismissed as “decorative” or “minor” arts—extravagant trinkets of the rich unworthy of the status of Art. Then, by re-examining the objects themselves and their uses in their day, she shows how sumptuous creations constructed the world and taste of Renaissance women and men.

Treasures of the Ferrell Collection
Treasures of the Ferrell Collection

Author: Jeffrey Spier

Publisher: Dr Ludwig Reichert

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9783895007958

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This volume publishes over 200 works of art belonging to the American collector, James Ferrell. The focus of the collection is jewelry, engraved gems and cameos, medallions, and silver plate primarily of the late Roman and early Byzantine periods (3rd-7th centuries AD). Much of the material derives from imperial workshops and served as official gifts. The catalogue opens with a small selection of Hellenistic jewelry, including a group composed of a necklace, earrings, and rings probably of Ptolemaic origin. The second chapter is composed primarily of late Roman jewelry, gems and cameos, and other objects in precious metal, including necklaces, bracelets, rings, fibulae, and belts, most of which date between the third and fifth centuries AD. The third and fourth chapters are devoted to the jewelry and other objects of the sort found in Gothic tombs of the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Chapter Five presents an outstanding selection of Byzantine jewelry of the sixth and seventh century, including pendants, crosses, bracelets, earrings, and rings, many set with precious gems and pearls. The final chapter is devoted to Byzantine ecclesiastical silver of the sixth century AD. The publication will be of considerable interest to a variety of scholars, museums, and collectors. Historians of late antiquity will find many objects with important imperial associations. The rich selection of Byzantine jewelry and silver, including many pieces decorated with unusual iconography, will be of importance to Byzantinists. The Gothic objects include many pieces of particularly high quality. Jewelry historians and collectors will be delighted with the superb color photography.