"Green Frog Service" - Book about an Imperial Russian Dinner Service

Nadal was born in Paris in 1917 and moved to Barcelona in 1921, where he lived off and on for the rest of his life. His career spanned some seventy years and was shaped in his early ...

For the past twenty years, Louise Lawler has photographed "art" as presented in private homes, in museums, galleries, auction houses, public buildings and museum and gallery storage areas. From an exhibition of Degas's masterpieces to an Andy Warhol installation, from Jeff Koons' sculptures to a Puvis de Chavannes painting in a house in Connecticut...

The celebrated Venetian architect Carlos Scarpa viewed glass as raw material for experimentation and research, and was challenged by this vastly suggestive age-old art. Now back in p...

Published to accompany a major retrospective exhibition of Blass's career at the Indiana University Art Museum, this lavish presentation presents more than 250 of his most important ensembles, beginning with his earliest work for Anna Miller...

Sotheby's Catalog, An Important Russian Imperial Jewel. Geneva 17 November 2005. 1st Ed hardcover. "An impressive and highly important diamond ornament from the collection of the Russian Imperial Family, Russia, second half of the 18th century. This diamond necklace with bowknot clasp is not only a remarkable jewel in itself, but its Russian royal provenance puts it in a class of its own. It evokes the blinding splendour of Catherine II, Empress of Russia: the magnificence of her court, her parks, her palaces, her art collections, and monuments. The most striking and colourful figure on the stage of European political life, for thirty four years she ruled a mighty empire which stretched from Siberia to Poland and left it stronger, larger and richer than when she came to the throne in 1762. After her death in 1796, her friend the Prince de Ligne, who had named her Catherine the Great, declared that this title- which has never been lost- resumed all her genius, courage, sense of justice, and force of character. Using her court as a stage, she played the part of an autocratic but enlightened ruler to perfection, imposing in her public appearances, kind and charming in private. The French ambassador, the Comte de Ségur who noticed how “her majestic head and brow, proud look and dignified deportment made her seem taller than she was”, was also impressed by her feminine grace “ her aquiline nose, well shaped mouth, Saxe blue eyes beneath dark lashes, gentle glance and seductive smile”. In spite of her success, she once confided to the Prince de Ligne that she could have served Russia better if she had been born a man. Ever the courtier, he assured her that being a woman was a positive advantage. “Believe me, you are so much more impressive in your beautiful embroidered orange red velvet dolman or tunic than a man decked out in boots and shoulder sash can ever be. In addition the five huge diamonds blazing out from your hair are far more effective than a man’s hat which is either ridiculously small or ridiculously big”. He was right. Her diamond jewellery proclaimed her power and her rank as Empress and appealed to the Russian taste for sumptuous goods. It impressed the Rev. William Coxe, visiting St. Petersburg in 1778: “the glory and the splendor of the clothing of the court and abundance of precious stones leave the opulence of other European courts far behind” and his opinion was shared by the acute Madame de Stael...

European Furniture & Decorative Arts Featuring Fine Silver and The Fletcher Collection of Imperial Russia. Skinner, Boston, April 6, 2013. softcover auction catalog. This sale featured The Fletcher Collection of Imperial Russia and over 300 lots of fine silver. The sale also presented Continental and British ceramics, clocks, lighting, textiles, antique furniture and a variety of American and European sculpture from a private Midwest collector. John Fletcher always had an intense interest in Nicholas II and his family. After over fifty years working with auction houses and specialized dealers worldwide, Fletcher had amassed a collection reflecting the splendor of Russia’s cultural Golden and Silver Ages. Highlights from the collection included a white leather child’s shoe, by tradition belonging to Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich; a pair of Fabergé gilded silver and enamel napkin rings; a collodion print of the Russian Imperial Family...

Antique frontispiece of the 6th volume of 'Hedendaagsche historie of tegenwoordige staat van allen volkeren (..)' by Thomas Salmon. This volume describes par...

Karl Lagerfeld: Chanel's Russian Connection Softcover Book by Karl Lagerfeld. Peripatetic Chanel head designer, book publisher, photographer and now, film director Karl Lagerfeld fou...