This book explores a series of powerful artifacts associated with King Solomon via legendary or extracanonical textual sources. Tracing their cultural resonance throughout history, art historian Allegra Iafrate delivers exciting insights into these objects and interrogates the ways in which magic manifests itself at a material level. Each chapter focuses on a different Solomonic object: a ring used to control demons; a mysterious set of bottles that constrain evil forces; an endless knot or seal with similar properties; the shamir, known for its supernatural ability to cut through stone; and a flying carpet that can bring the sitter anywhere he desires. Taken together, these chapters constitute a study on the reception of the figure of Solomon, but they are also cultural biographies of these magical objects and their inherent aesthetic, morphological, and technical qualities. Thought-provoking and engaging, Iafrate's study shows how ancient magic artifacts live on in our imagination, in items such as Sauron's ring of power, Aladdin's lamp, and the magic carpet. It will appeal to historians of art, religion, folklore, and literature.

The latest British Archaeological Association transactions report on the conference volumes at Beverley in 1983. Papers provide the latest thoughts on topics at Beverley Minster and in the surrounding area. Contributions include: Pre-Conquest Sculpture (J Lang); pre-13th century Beverley (R Morris & E Cambridge); 12th century sculpture from Bridlington (M Thurlby); Bridlington Augustinian church and cloister in the 12th century (J A Franklin); stained glass of Beverley Minster (D O'Connor); East Riding sepulchal monuments (B & M Gittos); St Peter's Church, Howden (N Coldstream); the Percy tomb workshop (N Dawton); architectural development of Patrington Church (J Maddison); Beverley in conflict: Archbishop Neville and the Minster Clergy, 1381-8 (R B Dobson); monumental brasses in the 14th and 15th centuries (S Badham); the misericords in Beveley Minster (C Grossinger).

Spirited Prospect: A Portable History of Western Art from the Paleolithic to the Modern Era is a lively, scholarly survey of the great artists, works, and movements that make up the history of Western art. Within the text, important questions are addressed: What is art, and who is an artist? What is the West, and what is the Canon? Is the Western Canon closed or exclusionary? Why is it more important than ever for individuals to engage and understand it? Readers are escorted on a concise, chronological tour of Western visual culture, beginning with the first art produced before written history. They learn about the great ancient cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Italy; the advent of Christianity and its manifestations in Byzantine, Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art; and the fragmentation of old traditions and the proliferation of new artistic choices that characterize the Enlightenment and the Modern Era. The revised second edition features improved formatting, juxtaposition, sizing, and spacing of images throughout. Spirited Prospect is an ideal textbook for introductory courses in the history of art, as well as courses in studio art and Western civilization at all levels.

This refreshing new look at Medieval art conveys a very real sense of the impact of art on everyday life in Europe from 1000 to 1500. It examines the importance of art in the expression and spread of knowledge and ideas, including notions of the heroism and justice of war, and the dominant view of Christianity.

A World Perspective of Art History: Ancient Art History from the First Artists to the 14th Century - Volume One provides students with a worldwide, integrated introduction to art. The book features a distinct emphasis on women, minorities, and civilizations around the world using a coordinated time sequence and comparing art in multiple cultures simultaneously. Students discover art and culture from a global perspective and are encouraged to connect their own cultures with key learnings. The material is presented in historical time sequences based on the rise and fall of various civilizations and how they created art and architecture during that time. Students are introduced to the early art of around 50,000 BCE and encouraged to consider why these original artists created their works. Additional units progress chronologically and show how art evolved in step with developed settlements. The book introduces great structures erected during the Bronze Age and demonstrates how the Iron Age influenced the art of ancient Greece. Students read about trade, the rise of empires, the dawn of deities, and how each of these historical developments profoundly impacted the type of art created during each time period. The final unit focuses on the end of ancient civilizations. Featuring a uniquely inclusive approach, A World Perspective of Art History is an ideal resource for courses in art history and art appreciation.

This handsomely illustrated volume explores the medieval Deccani temple complexes at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Pattadakal, with careful attention to their makers. The vibrant red sandstone temples of India's Deccan Plateau, such as the Pattadakal temple cluster, have attracted visitors since the eighth century or earlier. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and the coronation place of the Chalukya dynasty, Pattadakal and its neighboring sites are of major historical importance. In Shiva's Waterfront Temples, Subhashini Kaligotla situates these buildings in the cosmopolitan milieu of Deccan India and considers how their makers and awestruck visitors would have seen them in their day. Kaligotla reconstructs how architects and builders approached the sites, including their use of ornamentation, responsiveness to courtly values such as pleasure and play, and ingenious juxtaposition of the first millennium's Nagara and Dravida aesthetics, a blend largely unique to Deccan plateau architecture. With over 130 color illustrations, this original book elucidates the Deccan's special place in the lexicon of medieval South Asian architecture.