Despite China's long tradition of venerating the past as the ultimate source of cultural authority, the discourse of antiquity prior to the Song period (960-1279) demonstrated little concern for ancient objects. With a focus on physical artifacts of the past, Song intellectuals began a new discipline, "the study of bronze and stone" (jinshixue), that generated collections of items such as bronze vessels and bells, stone steles, and ink rubbings of inscriptions carved or cast on objects. This first comprehensive study in English of the Song antiquarian movement and how it refashioned the distant past uses textual and material evidence to examine this development, which has had long-lasting influence on Chinese intellectual history and on the preservation of material objects. In addition to collecting and comparing artifacts, Song antiquaries compiled extensive catalogs that included drawings, measurements, and meticulous descriptions. Their studies have contributed to the way history has been documented since the eleventh century and serve as a basis for archaeology of the modern period. Bronze and Stone contextualizes the Song antiquarian movement among previous Chinese engagements with antiquity, subsequent popular interest in ancient objects, and world antiquarianism.

Charles Warren's 1880 work on the authenticity of the siting of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The Church or group of Churches which is the subject of the following pages, was in its original form erected by the Emperor Constantine for the pious purpose of protecting and venerating that Sepulchral cavern which was believed to have been the very Tomb in which the Body of our Lord was laid. The buildings received, in accordance with the custom of that period, the name of the Martyrium of the Resurrection. They have long since disappeared, and others have been in turn erected and destroyed on the same site, until at length they have been brought to the state in which they now are. But during all ages of, Christianity, and under all their vicissitudes, these structures have remained the great centre of pilgrimage; to obtain this site, the best blood and wealth of Europe was poured forth in the Crusades, and before and after that hopeless struggle to retain Christian possession of it, no difficulties, dangers, or insults, were powerful enough to deter the crowds of pilgrims who annually went forth to visit the scenes of their Saviour's sufferings and triumphant Resurrection. Whether or no these sacred events took place upon the spots that were 80 confidently assigned as their true localities, has been of late years very warmly contested. But this is not essential to the question. Those who erected the buildings, and those who visited them, were alike convinced of the genuineness of the traditions; and therefore the influence of these buildings upon Ecclesiastical Architecture is wholly irrespective of the enquiry into the true localities. And it is as a branch of the history of Ecclesiastical Architecture alone that I purpose to treat the subject at present. Rev. Robert Willis M.A. 1849

The opulence of Byzantine art, with its extravagant use of gold and silver, is well known. Highly skilled artists created powerful representations reflecting and promoting this society and its values in icons, illuminated manuscripts, and mosaics and wallpaintings placed in domed churches and public buildings. This complete introduction to the whole period and range of Byzantine art combines immense breadth with interesting historical detail. Robin Cormack overturns the myth that Byzantine art remained constant from the inauguration of Constantinople, its artistic centre, in the year 330 until the fall of the city to the Ottomans in 1453. He shows how the many political and religious upheavals of this period produced a wide range of styles and developments in art. This updated, colour edition includes new discoveries, a revised bibliography, and, in a new epilogue, a rethinking of Byzantine Art for the present day.

For several years now, sigillography as an independent subarea in the field of Byzantine studies has received increasing attention from both Byzantine studies and related disciplines, because it is the only area still able to provide academia with large amounts of material not previously analysed. The articles of Studies in Byzantine Sigillography deal with all aspects of Byzantine sigillography: presentation of new finds, discussion of new methods, questions of the political and ecclesiastical administration of Byzantinum, prosopography, historical geography, and art historical and iconographical problems. In addition, the volumes contain a loosely arranged list of Byzantine seals, which have been published in essays and auction catalogues, thus enabling those from more obscure publications to be located and identified.

"Medieval renaissance Baroque" celebrates Marilyn Aronberg Lavin's breakthrough achievements in both the print and digital realms of art and cultural history. Fifteen friends and colleagues present tributes and essays that reflect every facet of this renowned scholar's brilliant career. Tribute presenters include Ellen Burstyn, Langdon Hammer, Phyllis Lambert, and James Marrow. Contributors include Kirk Alexander, Horst Bredekamp, Nicola Courtright, David Freedberg, Jack Freiberg, Marc Fumaroli, David A. Levine, Daniel T. Michaels, Elizabeth Pilliod, Debra Pincus, and Gary Schwartz. 79 illustrations, bibliography of Marilyn Lavin's works, index.

"Medieval Renaissance Baroque" celebrates Marilyn Aronberg Lavin's breakthrough achievements in both the print and digital realms of art and cultural history. Fifteen friends and colleagues present tributes and essays that reflect every facet of Lavin's brilliant career. Tribute presenters include Ellen Burstyn, Langdon Hammer, Phyllis Lambert, and James Marrow. Contributors include Kirk Alexander, Horst Bredekamp, Nicola Courtright, David Freedberg, Jack Freiberg, Marc Fumaroli, David A. Levine, Daniel T. Michaels, Elizabeth Pilliod, Debra Pincus, and Gary Schwartz. 230 pages, 79 illustrations, bibliography of Marilyn Lavin's works, preface, index.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

1885. Illustrated with 92 plates. The book's purpose is to collect and arrange, in chronological order, the principal forms that have been used symbolically in the different periods of Art. Its chief aim is to lead to a better understanding of the many treasures of Art and Antiquity that are to be found wherever our wanderings may lead us, by assisting persons to read their meaning and to look through the Symbol to the thing signified by it.

1928. This volume grew out of Lowell lectures delivered at Boston, Massachusetts. Contents: Monastic Artists (1); Monastic Artists (2); Monastic Artists (3); The Lay Artist; Four Self-Characterizations; The Freemasons; The Mason's Mark; The Hand-Grip; Eton and King's College; From Prentice to Master; Wander Years; Symbolism; The People's Mind; The Poor Man's Bible; Art and Religion; Architectural Finance; The Puritan Revolt; Reformation or Renaissance?; Protestantism and Art; The Roots of the Renaissance; Renaissance and Destruction; Renaissance and Construction (1); and Renaissance and Construction (2).

1928. This volume grew out of Lowell lectures delivered at Boston, Massachusetts. Contents: Monastic Artists (1); Monastic Artists (2); Monastic Artists (3); The Lay Artist; Four Self-Characterizations; The Freemasons; The Mason's Mark; The Hand-Grip; Eton and King's College; From Prentice to Master; Wander Years; Symbolism; The People's Mind; The Poor Man's Bible; Art and Religion; Architectural Finance; The Puritan Revolt; Reformation or Renaissance?; Protestantism and Art; The Roots of the Renaissance; Renaissance and Destruction; Renaissance and Construction (1); and Renaissance and Construction (2).

A unique coloring book of Knight images drawn by Christopher Finn.

Two leading American experts on the subject offer the first comprehensive English-language review of Naples' architecture and urban development from late antiquity to the high and late Middle Ages. William Tronzo treats the early Middle Ages, from the end of the western Roman Empire to the end of the Duchy, or from about 400 to 1139. He covers a range of topics, including the development of the city's urban fabric and chief monuments, including the catacombs, Sta. Restituta, the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte, the forum area including San Paolo Maggiore and the early history of San Lorenzo Maggiore and the Pietrasanta. Caroline Bruzelius then picks up the narrative and analysis from the twelfth century to the end of the Angevin period. She brings up to date and nuances many of the findings and themes of her The Stones of Naples. She revisits some of the same material on the early medieval city from a different perspective, that of religious foundations and urban topography. She proceeds to patronage - religious, mercantile, noble and royal - and then moves on to the role of Tuscan artists in Naples, concluding with the Angevin reconfiguration of the city in the late Middle Ages. Clearly and concisely written, this book is an ideal introductory survey for the scholar, student and general reader to medieval Naples, its chief monuments and to the scholarly discussions and interpretations of the material, visual and documentary evidence. 160 pages. Preface, select bibliography; appendices, including the Tavola Strozzi with key, Map of Medieval Naples with thumbnail key; index. 83 black & white figures, plus 60 thumbnail images. List of links to online resources from A Documentary History of Naples, including primary-source readings; image galleries containing over 450 additional images in full color; and links to full bibliographies with ongoing supplements.

Two leading American experts on the subject offer the first comprehensive English-language review of Naples' architecture and urban development from late antiquity to the high and late Middle Ages. William Tronzo treats the early Middle Ages, from the end of the western Roman Empire to the end of the Duchy, or from about 400 to 1139. He covers a range of topics, including the development of the city's urban fabric and chief monuments, including the catacombs, Sta. Restituta, the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte, the forum area including San Paolo Maggiore and the early history of San Lorenzo Maggiore and the Pietrasanta. Caroline Bruzelius then picks up the narrative and analysis from the twelfth century to the end of the Angevin period. She brings up to date and nuances many of the findings and themes of her The Stones of Naples. She revisits some of the same material on the early medieval city from a different perspective, that of religious foundations and urban topography. She proceeds to patronage - religious, mercantile, noble and royal - and then moves on to the role of Tuscan artists in Naples, concluding with the Angevin reconfiguration of the city in the late Middle Ages. Clearly and concisely written, this book is an ideal introductory survey for the scholar, student and general reader to medieval Naples, its chief monuments and to the scholarly discussions and interpretations of the material, visual and documentary evidence. 160 pages. Preface, select bibliography; appendices, including the Tavola Strozzi with key, Map of Medieval Naples with thumbnail key; index. 83 black & white figures, plus 60 thumbnail images. List of links to online resources from A Documentary History of Naples, including primary-source readings; image galleries containing over 450 additional images in full color; and links to full bibliographies with ongoing supplements.

Anna Comnena is described as the first female historian, the author of her father's celebratory biography. She was an educated princess in eleventh-century Constantinople, the daughter of the Emperor Alexius. She was expected to succeed him, and raised as heir, but her hopes were dashed by the birth of a younger brother. In what is over-modestly described as a biography, Naomi Mitchison combines her story with that of her father, and the whole civilisation of the Eastern Empire, indeed the whole known world of the time. The Eastern Empire is seen as a necessary bulwark between a young and promising Europe and the perils of Islam and wild tribes in Asia. Mitchison also warns her readership of the perils of a dead civilisation, and writing in 1928 she poses a challenge to the direction of Europe in these perilous postwar years. Thwarted ambition at last drove Anna to attempt to kill her brother, who, says Mitchison, went on to be one of the best of Emperors. Isobel Murray is Emeritus Professor of Modern Scottish Literature at the University of Aberdeen.

A neglected aspect of Byzantium, physical beauty appears as a quality with an unmistakable dark side, relating ambiguously to notions of power, goodness, evil, masculinity, effeminacy, life and death. Examined as an attribute of the human and, in particular, of the male body, this study of beauty refines our understanding of the Byzantine world.

This book stands alone as the first general survey of lighting in Byzantium. Although relatively well known by specialists, Byzantine lighting devices have not been treated independently, but rather presented and discussed in connection with other Byzantine minor arts. The first part of the book discusses the technology and types of lighting devices and explains their decorative symbolism and social function. The second half illustrates this narrative by drawing on a Dumbarton Oaks exhibition, "Lighting in Early Byzantium," which presented to the public some of the finest surviving late Roman and early Byzantine lighting devices. Some of these are now published for the first time.

Detailed analysis of an iconographic motif of huge significance in European art. The image of the `Madonna of Humility', the Virgin and Child seated on the ground, is widespread in European art, yet it remains mysterious. This book provides a detailed and accessible investigation and explication of the theme'smultiple significances, and of other associated images (including the Virgin suckling the Child, the Woman of the Apocalypse and the Virgin Annunciate). It takes issue with the orthodox view of the origins of the image lying in the work of Simone Martini at Avignon, suggesting a longer process of development, with a key role for manuscript illumination in Metz. Subsequent chapters pursue the assimilation, appropriation, and adjustment of the image in a number of regions across Europe, challenging the simplistic idea of unequivocal iconographic meaning determined solely by the context of the image's genesis. The book argues for an essential fluidity and negotiability of meaning inthe visual arts, challenging the very idea of unitary and unequivocal iconographic readings; and its examination of the multi-layered functions of the image in different contexts and different regions provides not just an iconographical case-study, but a cultural history of a devotional resource with Europe-wide implications Dr BETH WILLIAMSON teaches in the Department of Art History, University of Bristol.

Unsurpassed in the years since its first publication in 1917, English Church Woodwork is the definitive guide to the ornate craftsmanship of the Gothic period. FH Crossley spent over twenty years recording, measuring and photographing churches across England and Wales: from his archive of over 10,000 pictures, the 380 reproduced here show the finest examples. Accompanied throughout by FE Howard's clear and authoritative text, the survey includes rood screens, misericords, quire stalls, pulpits, lecterns, doorways and font covers, highlighting both the incredible levels of skill and fascinating regional variations in the woodwork. English Church Woodwork is both ambitiously wide in scope and satisfyingly comprehensive: a fitting tribute to what is arguably the finest legacy of the medieval ages.