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In The Art of the Japanese Sword, master swordsmith Yoshindo Yoshihara offers a comprehensive view on the making, finishing and appreciation of Japanese blades.

The Japanese sword, a unique work of art in steel, can be appreciated from a number of viewpoints. Its functionality as a weapon, the sophisticated metallurgy and scientific thinking utilized by the swordsmith, the shape of the blade itself, and the different crystalline forms in the steel all contribute to the beauty of these remarkable weapons. The Art of the Japanese Sword conveys to the reader a basic background regarding the Japanese sword, as well as an explanation of how to view and appreciate a blade. It also illustrates the details of how a sword is made and finished today.

Modern craftsmen use completely traditional methods from the past to prepare their steel, forge the sword and create the unique hardened edge. By gaining a good understanding of how a sword is actually made, the reader will be able to appreciate the Japanese sword more fully.

Japanese sword art stands out in many ways: functionality as a weapon, sophisticated metallurgy and metalsmithing, the shape of the blade itself--all contribute to the beauty of these remarkable weapons. The Art of the Japanese Sword conveys to the reader Japanese samurai sword history and Japanese sword care, as well as explaining how to view and appreciate a blade.

With 256 full-color pages, this sword book illustrates in meticulous detail how modern craftsmen use traditional methods to prepare their steel, forge the sword and create the unique hardened edge. By gaining a good understanding of how a sword is made, the reader will be able to appreciate the samurai sword more fully. Topics include:

- Appreciating the Japanese sword
- History of the Japanese sword
- Traditional Japanese steelmaking
- Making the sword
- Finishing the sword

About the Authors:

Yoshindo Yoshihara is a third-generation swordsmith. His grandfather Kuniie began making swords in 1933 in Tokyo and was ranked among the top swordsmiths in Japan during his career. Yoshindo lives and works in Tokyo with his son, who represents the fourth generation of swordsmiths in the family. Yoshindo, who is always training young swordsmiths and currently has five apprentices working with him, has been named an Important Cultural Property of the city and prefecture of Tokyo and is a mukansa (top-ranked swordsmith) in Japan.

Leon Kapp, a molecular biologist, lives with his wife Hiroko in San Rafael, California. He has been seriously interested in Japanese swords for over twenty-five years and has spent a great deal of time learning about them from Yoshindo.

Hiroko Kapp is a writer for Senken Shimbun News of Tokyo and writes about fashion and the fashion industry in the US. She graduated from Musashi-no Art University in Tokyo. For twenty-five years, she was active in the apparel business and designed scarves for her own line in the US.

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Пролистать книгу The Art of the Japanese Sword: The Craft of Swordmaking and its Appreciation на Google Books.

Timepieces are the perfect distillation of Cartier's craft: At once bona fide jewels, the ultimate expression of style, and miracles of detail and precision, they are at the heart of all that the legendary house represents. Equal in beauty, value, and design to Cartier's jewels, each timepiece is an object of unparalleled luxury and elegance, emblematic of the "Cartier style." More than 450 pieces, including the complete collection of "mystery clocks" whose hands seem to float in midair, are presented here, representing more than 150 years of the finest horology. Each object is accompanied by its individual history and detailed technical specifications. Full-scale reproductions, including 12 gatefolds, are followed by an illustrated and comparative chronology, glossary of terms, and complete index.

About the Authors:

François Chaille is an art historian and fashion expert. He has written several titles, including The Cartier Collection: Jewelry, The Cartier Collection: Precious Objects, Cartier: Creative Writing, Cartier: Innovation through the 20th Century, and Girard-Perregaux. Franco Cologni is Chairman of the Cultural Council of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie.

A celebration of philanthropist Marjorie Merriweather Post’s passions for her residences and personal collections, reflecting centuries of some of the finest treasures in the world.

Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887–1973) was an extraordinary person, not only for being the head of a major corporation but also for overseeing elegant and well-run residences and amassing collections of astounding beauty. Including portraiture, imperial Russian tableware, Fabergé creations, stunning garments and jewelry, books, and rare objects in gold, silver, and porcelain, Post’s works of art were acquired with intelligence and acuity. She was inspired by past royal and aristocratic patrons as well as countries that she admired: France, Russia, England, and Austria.

This publication illustrates the evolution of Post’s collections and her interactions with dealers, artists, artisans, and architects. The backdrops for her treasures — residences in New York, the Adirondacks, Palm Beach, and Washington, D.C. — are depicted with period and newly commissioned photography. Recent scholarship focusing on the highlights of her trove of exquisite objects sheds new light on Post’s legacy as a twentieth-century collector.

About the Author:

Kate Markert is the executive director of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. Wilfried Zeisler is the chief curator at Hillwood. Megan J. Martinelli is the associate curator of textiles, apparel, jewelry, and accessories at Hillwood. Jason G. Speck is Hillwood’s head of archives and special collections.

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Пролистать книгу The Houses and Collections of Marjorie Merriweather Post

The Watch Book I and II in one volume: Expansive knowledge from renowned watch expert and historian Gisbert L. Brunner alongside almost 1,000 high-quality color photographs brings together the latest innovations and most important names in top-end timekeeping under one roof. Few objects combine function, elegance, and status as well as a wristwatch.

A blend of precise mechanics, craftsmanship, fine materials, and innovation distinguishes the truly superlative examples. With so-called smart watches playing a larger role, the world of watches is in transition. However, classic timepieces with mechanical movement will not disappear from people's wrists, because the ticking of a mechanical watch has been and will continue to be the heartbeat of human culture. After their individual success, the bestsellers The Watch Book I and The Watch Book II are finally available together in one comprehensive volume. Readers can feast their eyes and minds on a magnificently-illustrated and well-documented chronicle of the world's best timepieces.

Portraits of more than 40 watch brands, from premium manufacturers Patek Philippe, Rolex, and Cartier to watches from the "affordable luxury" segment, right up to timepieces from the chronometric creme de la creme. We explore their unique features and quirks and learn about the remarkable breakthroughs and exclusive technical developments that have contributed to the history of the watch. This volume also includes a helpful glossary of important terms, making it an absolute must for both timepiece experts and collectors and those new to the world of watch artistry.

An exceptional volume bringing together 1,000 images representing the diversity and richness of the visual arts in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century

At the turn of the 20th century, Vienna became an epicentre for new thought. A multi-disciplinary environment emerged where musicians, writers and intellectuals all flourished, often coming together in the capital’s famous coffee houses. This was the time of Freud and Wittgenstein, of Mahler and Schönberg, and of the Secession (1897–1905), the modern movement led by Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser that aimed to bring different arts together in a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’; of Jugendstil and of the Wiener Werkstätte.

There have been many exhibitions and publications devoted to this effervescence of artistic creation, and even more monographs devoted to its key players. None, however, brings together a selection of visual material from across the different artistic disciplines as significant as this volume, curated and authored by three leading scholars of the period. The illustrations take the lead throughout, creating an invaluable visual reference point for all those eager to identify a given category of the arts within this period, particularly in the field of the decorative arts, from ceramics to glass, silverwork, furniture and jewellery; and graphic arts, from book design to posters and postcards. There are also many less familiar works in the field of fashion and photography, and a particular focus is given to the role of women practitioners of the time.

This is an essential publication for anyone interested in fin-de-siècle Vienna, Viennese art and modern decorative arts more generally.

About the Authors:

Christian Brandstätter is a Viennese author, curator and publisher. Among his previous books is Wonderful Wiener Werkstätte, also published by Thames & Hudson.

Rainer Metzger is an art historian and author who has been a professor at the Kunstakademie Karlsruhe since 2004. His books include Gustav Klimt: Drawings and Watercolours (2005), Berlin in the 20s (2007) and Munich: Its Golden Age of Art and Culture 1890–1920 (2009), all published by Thames & Hudson. 

Daniela Gregori studied Art History in Vienna and Hamburg. As an author and journalist, she works especially in the field of applied arts.

Contents List:

Introduction • 1. The Fine Arts • 2. Painters • 3. The Wiener Werkstätte • 4. Commercial Art and Publications • 5. Glass • 6. Ceramics • 7. Metalwork • 8. Fashion, Textiles and Jewelry • 9. Furniture • 10. Graphic Art and Bookbinding • 11. Photography • 12. Architecture • A–Z of Artists and Manufacturers

For bibliophiles, connoisseurs of contemporary printmaking, and everyone whose imagination is fired by the macabre

With breathtaking virtuosity and a unique, dreamlike vision, Érik Desmazières – a master of contemporary printmaking – re-creates interiors, cityscapes and fantastical compositions.

For this book - the first to include the artist's rare work in colour - Desmazières has delved deep into the arcane theme of cabinets of curiosities. Taking as his starting point the melancholy musings of the seventeenth-century antiquary Sir Thomas Browne, he has reinterpreted these shadowy collections of the recondite, rare and bizarre – precious corals, shrunken heads and magical artefacts – as a series of meditations on the vanity of earthly life. Death and decay are never far below the surface, as a depiction of Sir Thomas Browne’s own skull, disinterred and displayed in a museum until the 1920s, reminds us.

The erudite text by Patrick Mauriès traces the preoccupations of Browne and his fellow collectors through history, showing how abstruse objects and spectres of death - subject matter once considered the preserve of specialists - have now entered the cultural mainstream.

Rich in atmosphere, refreshingly strange and exquisitely produced, A Cabinet of Rarities is a bibliophilic treasure for anyone whose imagination is fired by the esoteric and macabre.

Contents List:

The Artist-Engraver • The Virtuoso • Reawakenings

About the Authors:

Erik Desmazières is a French engraver and printmaker, who is represented in numerous important public and private collections all over the world.
Patrick Mauriès is a writer and publisher of many notable titles on fashion and design, including Jewelry by Chanel, A Cabinet of Rarities, The World According to Karl and Fashion Quotes to name a few, all published by Thames & Hudson.

The basic tenet of Jugendstil (German Art Nouveau) was to "suffuse all areas of life with art". This also applied to objects in everyday use.

The German Blade Museum boasts the world's biggest cutlery collection. Vol. I of the Museum catalogue presents "Jugendstil Cutlery" in all its diversity. Silver, silver-plate and other materials were used for this cutlery, most of it made in Germany. The collection comprises more than 300 patterns, which are arranged here by purely formal criteria to reveal the enormous variety of forms and decoration. No other era produced such a diversity of decorative designs and this is the first ever publication to deal with it. All known makers and designers, as well as anonymous factory designs for patterns, are represented in this collection.

The best-selling guide to British antique furniture for over forty years, now in its sixth edition.

For the past forty years this book has, in its various editions, outsold all others on British antique furniture simply because it is unique in explaining what to look for when assessing the value of individual pieces. In this, the sixth edition, the huge financial importance of patination and colour has been explained and illustrated - something which has become increasingly important in recent years. This classic guide consists of over 1,600 photographs of furniture found in shops and auction rooms throughout the country with the author's down-to-earth comments on important features that affect individual prices. The reader will come to understand the rules and prejudices which apply while the eye will become aware of gradations of quality. He will come instinctively to assess the workmanship and how all this affects the final price tag. This is, above all, a reference book for the practicing collector and dealer, a work from which the memory may be refreshed and points checked.

John Andrews is both a founding member of, and the first author published by, the Antique Collectors' Club. His professional background as a market researcher and his love of furniture have made his books unique in their clear explanations and practical, factual approach. Apart from collecting, restoring and writing about furniture, he is an active businessman and fiction writer.

This is the first volume of the definitive reference series dealing with commercial bronze sculptures in the period 1800 to 1930. This period spans the rise and decline of commercial industrial foundries in Europe, especially in France, and a wide array of international sculptors. Together, they produced millions of fine statuettes for the general public. Volume 1 includes 799 photographs of sculptures on 224 pages with essays on specific topics of identitication and caring for bronze. It incorporates lists of the sculptors whose work is shown, the founders represented, 24 different founders' seals and an index to this volume. The photographs are remarkably clear enabeling small details in the sculptures to be visible. With this reference series, collectors will be able to identify many of the old commercial bronzes found on the market today

This is the second volume of the definitive reference series dealing with commercial bronze sculptures in the period 1800 to 1930. This period spans the rise and decline of commercial industrial foundries in Europe, especially in France, and a wide array of international sculptors. Together, they produced millions of fine statuettes for the general public. Volume 2 includes 1025 photographs of sculptures on 272 pages with a numbered list of the sculpture categories and an essay on early twentieth-century sculptural styles by Tom Tomc of Chicago. It incorporates lists of the sculptors whose work is shown, the founders represented, and 58 different founders' seals. The photographs are remarkably clear enabeling small details in the scuptures to be visible. With this reference series, collectors will be able to identify many of the old commercial bronzes found on the market today.

This is the third volume of the definitive reference series dealing with commercial bronze sculptures in the period 1800 to 1930. This period spans the rise and decline of commercial industrial foundries in Europe, especially in France, and a wide array of international sculptors. Together, they produced millions of fine statuettes for the general public. Volume 3 includes 1315 photographs of sculptures on 320 pages with information on the Hirsch Foundry of Paris and Brooklyn, New York. It incorporates lists of the sculptors whose work is shown, the founders represented, and 21 different founders' seals. The photographs are remarkably clear enabeling small details in the sculptures to be visible. With this reference series, collectors will be able to identify many of the old commercial bronzes found on the market today.

This is the fourth volume of the definitive reference series dealing with commercial bronze sculptures in the period 1800 to 1930. This period spans the rise and decline of commercial industrial foundries in Europe, especially in France, and a wide array of international sculptors. Together, they produced millions of fine statuettes for the general public. With this reference series, collectors will be able to identify many of the old commercial bronzes found on the market today

A comprehensive guide to the dazzling ceramics of Clarence Cliff - a must-have for Art Deco collectors

The dazzling ceramics of Clarice Cliff and of the Wilkinson Pottery that first encouraged her work in the 1920s are among the best of many fine achievements of the renowned Staffordshire Potteries in the English Midlands. Today they have become one of the great collectables from the twentieth century. The exuberant colours and bold shapes of her classic Art Deco pieces have caught the imagination of collectors and auction houses the world over as prices move inexorably upwards.

After years of research both in the Wilkinson archives and through oral testimonies of surviving employees, Greg Slater has produced the ultimate survey of Clarice Cliff's work and those of her largely uncredited colleagues from the 1920s to the 1950s.

This massive reference work identifies the pattern name, designer, date and decoration method of all the significant piece, and a host of lesser-known ones. Accessible through three indexes - pattern name, number and backstamp - the book is broadly chronological, organized by Pattern (including ranges assigned by the Wilkinson Pottery and recognizable themes) and also by Shape (an instant identifier for ceramics without a backstamp).

With copious illustrations - all fully referenced and indexed - along with an introduction, bibliography, glossary and collectors' guide, this is the definitive book on the subject and will be for generations to come.

About the Authors:

Jonathan Brough is a Clarice Cliff expert and on the editorial board of the Clarice Cliff magazine The Agora
Greg Slater is the editor of the online Clarice Cliff collector’s magazine, The Agora. He is the author of Comprehensively Clarice Cliff, also published by Thames & Hudson.

From the earliest times, crowns have served as symbols of religious position and as signifiers of rank. Throughout the centuries and from culture to culture, crowns have varied in shape, material, usage and symbolism.

Crown Jewellery gives us an overwhelming overview including many photos of the actual crowns and regalia of the world. This publication highlights the evolution of crowns, different types and forms and their origins, and the precious materials used to make them. Royal events and ceremonies such as weddings, coronations, and funerals are abundantly illustrated with extraordinary photos. In addition to royal ceremonies, the spiritual and religious ceremonies of ordinary life are also highlighted in this abundantly illustrated publication.

These pendulum clocks not only tell time but also depict magnificent bronze and gilded sculptures which more or less relate to time, especially of Greek and Roman mythology, American Indian or African origin, and inhabitants of exotic countries. The author explains the underlying stories and scenes of everyday life in panels which represent the new, post-revolutionary era of the middle class in 19th century France.