Western Decorative Arts: Volume 1

This volume is one of two that examine the National Gallery of Art's distinguished collection of decorative arts.

Alison Luchs (Author)

9780521470681, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 June 1994

357 pages, 249 b/w illus. 64 colour illus.
29.4 x 22.6 x 3.2 cm, 2.039 kg

' … a thought-provoking contextual study which represents a significant step forward in the art-historical appraisal of Tullio Lombardo, as well as of Venetian Renaissance sculpture as a whole. It is certainly one of the most rewarding books published recently in this field.' Joachim Strupp, The Art Book

This volume is one of several that examines the National Gallery of Art's distinguished collection of decorative arts. (The second volume will be published in 1996.) The group treated here is composed primarily of works acquired from the Widener Collection, and amplified by holdings acquired from the Kress family. Included are more than eighty Medieval, Renaissance, and later historic objects in a wide variety of media, encompassing metalwork, stained glass, enamels, ceramics, and jewels. Among the highlights are a Limoges reliquary chasse, a Mosan lion aquamanile, thirty-eight pieces in a remarkable cohesive group of Italian maiolica, three of the very rare pottery objects known as 'Saint-Porchaire', and, the centerpiece of the collection, the Suger chalice, an ancient sardonyx cup to which the Abbot Suger added a bejewelled golden setting in the twelfth century. Like other volumes in the Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art Collections,Western Decorative Arts includes a thoroughly researched entry for each object, together with an artist biography, up-to-date bibliography, and a technical analysis.

Catalogue
Medieval metalwork and enamels Alison Luchs and Philippe Verdier
Late Medieval and Renaissance decorative arts Alison Luchs
Renaissance enamels Philippe Verdier
Technical appendix I: The enamels Daphne S. Barbour and Shelley G. Sturman
Renaissance ceramics Timothy H. Wilson
Technical appendix II: The 'Saint-Porchaire' ceramics Daphne S. Barbour, Shelley G. Sturman and Pamela B. Vandiver
Jewels Rudolf Distelberger.

Subject Areas: History of art / art & design styles [AC]