Since the radiant years of the Renaissance, the city of Florence has come for many to represent the greatest triumph of the Western cultural tradition. This is the city where humanism was born, where Plato was discussed passionately in the narrow streets, and where men and women first found themselves to be the measure of all things. For more than three centuries Florence nurtured a creative community of astounding, even revolutionary genius. Here, starting in the late 1200s, Giotto painted the grave and powerful frescoes that drew Florence and the world toward a radical new vision of realism, and here, ushering in the dazzling era of the High Renaissance, Michelangelo began his incomparable career as architect, sculptor, and painter. During the intervening years, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Ghiberti, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Raphael, Leonardo, and hundreds of the most splendidly talented artists in history lived and worked in this small city on the Arno and collaborated in the creation of the great urban museum we know as Florence. Matching an elegant and sophisticated text by three leading art historians with hundreds of glorious color photographs, The Art of Florence immerses us in a city and a time of unparalleled cultural ferment. This important and uncommonly beautiful publication analyzes the history of Florentine art in terms of the distinctly Florentine and Tuscan influences that shaped it—an approach never before employed in a study of this breadth and complexity. The fascinating and lucid text by Glenn Andres, John Hunisak, and Richard Turner gracefully links Florentine architecture, sculpture, and painting to the rich social fabric and the dramatic political life of the city. Woven into this compelling history is the most luxurious and comprehensive visual documentation available of Florence's unrivaled treasures. More than 700 color images and another 854 duotones and architectural drawings have been reproduced with a meticulous care worthy of the Renaissance craft tradition. Joining visual beauty with intellectual rigor in a fashion that truly invokes the spirit of this great city, The Art of Florence presents as rich a vision of human creativity as we can find anywhere outside Florence itself.

Hefty Folios. Full bound in blue cloth with gilt titling. Bindings are solid and interiors are clean and bright. Housed in original illustrated slipcase. In fine condition.

A beautiful and informative exploration of the illuminated manuscripts of the Bible over a millennium and across the globe, shedding new light on some of the most significant, yet rarely seen, paintings of the Middle Ages

This two-volume publication represents the only comprehensive documentation of one of the finest private collections of Asian art in the world. More than 1,000 works of art are shown in exquisite color reproductions, along with a special reference section of illustrated and translated texts, signatures, and seals. Since the collection will be dispersed for public use, Art Through a Lifetime provides the only opportunity for scholars, students, and admirers of Asian art to enjoy it in its entirety. The first volume of this boxed set presents Japanese paintings, printed works, and calligraphy that date from the Nara period to the late 20th century. The second volume presents the remainder of the Japanese works--ceramics, lacquer, metalwork, sculpture, and textiles--along with an extensive array of Korean and Chinese works of art. Miyeko Murase is professor emerita of Japanese art at Columbia University and special consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Soyoung Lee is associate curator for Korean art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. David Ake Sensabaugh is the Ruth and Bruce Dayton Curator of Asian Art, Yale University Art Gallery. Shi-yee Liu, senior research associate in the Department of Asian Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, provided translations.

120 of the world's most influential contemporary artists discuss the art that inspires them in this lavishly packaged and designed book. "The Artist Project is the latest step among The Met's recent strides to better integrate contemporary art into its historical pantheon." —Art News Artists have long been stimulated and motivated by the work of those who came before them - sometimes, centuries before them. Interviews with 120 international contemporary artists discussing works from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection that spark their imagination shed new light on art-making, museums, and the creative process. Images of the artworks appear alongside images of the contemporary artists' work, allowing readers to discover a rich web of visual connections that spans cultures and millennia.

Ten years, ten boxes, 118 issues, 6,076 pages! The seminal architecture journal resurrected in facsimile From the end of World War II until the mid-1960s, exciting things were happening in American architecture: emerging talents were focusing on innovative projects that infused low-cost materials and modern design. This trend was most notably incarnated in the famous Case Study House Program, which was championed by the era's leading American journal, Arts & Architecture. Focusing not only on architecture but also design, art, music, politics, and social issues, A&A was an ambitious and groundbreaking publication, largely thanks to the inspiration of John Entenza, who ran the magazine for over two decades until David Travers became publisher in 1962. The era's greatest architects were featured in A&A, including Neutra, Schindler, Saarinen, Ellwood, Lautner, Eames, and Koenig.

Most volumes are still sealed in original shrink. Where opened, internally still like new. Outer box for the 1948 volume has some light staining. Some shelf-wear to boxes, with ocassional bumping. A very nice set, nearly like new.

Like most of China's amazing archaeological discoveries, the terracotta army was found by accident. It came to light in 1974 when local farmers were drilling a well. Since then, remarkable discoveries at the First Emperor's burial site have ben ongoing, revealing the wealth of China's ancient past. With contributions from leading scholars, China's Terracotta Warriors presents a panoramic view of Qin artistic, military, and administrative achievements under the powerful ruler sho proclaimed himself First Emperor of China. In addition to findings from his tomb complex, it examines the period of Chinese history preceding the First Emperor's reign (246-210 BCE) and his establishment of the Qin empire and dynasty in 221 BCE. The Qin state had been in existence for over half a millennium before the First Emperor came to the throne, and its rulers had played their parts in the evolution of a small state into a superpower. Only in recent years has that history been revealed through a series of remarkable and often accidental discoveries of tombs and burials of early Qin royals and aristocracy. In the absence of substantive and reliable written sources, it is this archaeological evidence which provides clues to Qin's rise from state to empire. China's Terracotta Warriors is published to accompany exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Liu Yang is curator of Chinese art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The other contributors are Edmund Capon, Albert Dien, Liu Yunhui, Jeffery Riegle, Eugene Wang, Jay Xu, and Yuan Zhongyi.

The Private Trade in Chinese Export porcelain, as distinct from East India Company trade, has hitherto scarcely been recoginised as a subject in its own right. And yet the officers and supercargoes of the Hon. East India Company took full advantage of their license to trade on their own account; it is just this attractive and innovative ware, chosen by them at their own capital risk, that is most collected today. David S. Howard surveys more than two centuries of manufacture, and throws new light on how the trade was actually conducted. The Hodroff collection, the largest and most comprehensive of its kind in the world, closely mirrors the tastes of the private traders and is the ideal source of illustration for this pioneering work.

PRIVATE MARKET IN CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAIN.

A major contribution to the scholarship of South and Southeast Asian art. A major survey of South and Southeast Asian art drawn from the Alsdorf Collection, one of the finest private collections of Asian art in America. Although this extraordinary collection is well known to scholars and collectors, the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue will provide the first opportunity for the general public to view these remarkable works of art. This collection of more than 450 objects includes sculpture, jewelry, paintings, and architectural elements from India, Nepal, Tibet, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Java, and elsewhere. The objects range in date from a medallion from the second century BC to twentieth-century sculpture. The catalogue has been written by the eminent scholar Pratapaditya Pal. Dr. Pal explains the major themes represented in the collection--Hindu gods, Buddhist and Jain subjects, goddesses, human figures, animals, and ritual, ornamental, and ceremonial objects--and discusses in detail the style, history, and iconography of individual pieces.