From top American and British needlecraft designers, here are more than 25 beautifully colored patterns in needlepoint and crewel that present a glorious range of contemporary and traditional animal motifs. Four-color photographs.
This scholarly book with its magnificent illustrations explores in detail a fundamental fact of Japanese art, a theme also intrinsic to the very "nature" of the Japanese people, and an essential expression of their philosophy and heritage. The book traces the development of this threme through an examination of some 140 objects from the twelfth to nineteenth centuries. The outstanding collections in the United States are represented by works of superb quality. These range from those rich in color and detail to others in which severity of line predominates, almost modern in the results. The wealth of material includes screens, kakemono, makemono, bronze, wood, lacquer, stone, papier-mâché, tsuba, inro and netsuke. The flowers, animals, insets and birds are depicted with great elegance and frequently with humor; several are illustrated by details which bring out the superb draftsmanship, satirical eye and love of beauty that are characteristic of the best in Japanese art.
These beasts, birds, and blossoms ornament the fine arts of painting and sculpture as well as the crafts of ceramics, textiles, wood- and ivory-carvings, silver repousse, lacquerware, nielloware, and mother-of-pearl inlay.
Using 163 photographs of images carved on the underside of medieval choir stalls in the churches and cathedrals of England in the thirteenth through sixteenth centuries, this work provides a spirited examination of the social history of ordinary men and women during the late-medieval period. This examination is particularly useful in that the choir stalls have become less accessible to the public in recent years. Misericords have received some scholarly attention, but this work is the first to interpret the carvings as social commentary. They are not examined as decorative embellishments or pieces of church furniture, but rather "read" as intimate glimpses into the thoughts, actions, and beliefs of a segment of the English medieval population. Whatever amused, angered, frightened, or elated the common person is recorded here in these extraordinary records.
The follow up to My Family and Other Animals and the second book in The Corfu Trilogy, the beloved books that inspired ITV's television series The Durrells. In this second collection of tales concerning the Durrell family on the island of Corfu, young Gerry continues to be captivated by the fascinating flora and fauna of their adopted home - much to the bemusement and upset of his long suffering siblings and mother. Whether it's lamp fishing by night or roving the countryside with his mentor Theodore, Gerry encounters intoxicated hedgehogs, tarantulas, dung beetles, water spiders and other animals, some of which become the family's very unwanted pets.
