This comprehensive book is both a biographical exploration of the early life of Mary Seton Watts and a survey of the pottery she designed. Her roots in Scotland, her artistic career and her marriage to the Victorian artist George Frederic Watts all influenced the design of the Grade 1 listed Cemetery Chapel at Compton and the art potteries which she then set up, both in Compton (The Potters' Arts Guild) and in her home village near Inverness. The pottery at Compton was in business for more than fifty years, making terracotta garden ware, memorials and small decorative pieces. It remained open through two World Wars and a trade depression. This highly illustrated publication showcases the beautiful and individual pieces of pottery and is a fitting tribute to the ability of Mary Watts to coordinate both people and resources.

This book presents the surprising collection of Venetian glass donated by spouses Carla Nasci and Ferruccio Franzoia to the Carlo Rizzarda Modern Art Gallery in Feltre. A collection of over 800 pieces ranging from the 18th century to today, allowing the viewer to marvel, in particular, at the Murano production and its great glassmakers. A first nucleus includes the elegant Liberty and Deco glasses produced by Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Cappellin Venini & C. in the twenties: the artistic director of the company was Vittorio Zecchin, one of the most fascinating personalities working in Venice between the First World War and the decade later, who with his elegant, transparent blown glass inspired by the Renaissance, marked a decisive turning point in contemporary Murano production. A second group is represented by the artifacts produced between 1925 and 1960 referable to the figure of Carlo Scarpa, creator of highly successful, innovative glass shapes and fabrics, who collaborated respectively with the Cappellini company since 1926 and with Venini since 1932, together with a mix of products from other companies and authors active in the lagoon. The third type of documented artifacts is that of table glasses: consumer objects destined for ephemeral use and therefore an important testimony of taste and customs.

In this publication the sinologist Rupprecht Mayer presents 143 Chinese reverse glass paintings from a private collection in southern Germany. Traditional motifs of happiness, scenes from plays and novels, landscapes, Chi na's entrance into modernity, and the changing image of the Chinese woman define the central motifs. Production of reverse glass paintings began in Canton in the 18th century, of which only those that found their way to the West are known today. After th e end of exports in the middle of the 19th century this decorative art continued to enjoy popularity in China, but only very few of the many fragile paintings in Chinese households have survived the turmoil of wars and disruptions of the 19th and 20th cent uries. Reverse glass painting fell into oblivion in China, with no collections in museums and very few private collectors. This first study in the West presents the beauty of this traditional art in all of its facets.

From the introduction of woodblock printing in China to the development of copper-plate engraving in Europe, the print medium has been used around the world to circulate knowledge. Ceramic artists across time and cultures have adapted these graphic sources as painted or transfer-printed images applied onto glazed or unglazed surfaces to express political and social issues including propaganda, self-promotion, piety, gender, national and regional identities. Long before photography, printers also included pots in engravings or other two-dimensional techniques which have broadened scholarship and encouraged debate. Pots, Prints and Politics examines how European and Asian ceramics traditionally associated with the domestic sphere have been used by potters to challenge convention and tackle serious issues from the 14th to the 20th century. Using the British Museum's world-renowned ceramics and prints collections as a base, the authors have challenged and interrogated a variety of ceramic objects - from teapots to chamber pots - to discover new meanings that are as relevant today as they were when they were first conceived.

An original and entertaining catalogue for a travelling exhibition that has already been much talked about. The expressive power of glass emerges from the pages of the Glasstrees catalogue, which travelled from the Venice Biennale to the Museum of Art and Design of New York in February 2012. The excellent colour photographs illustrate the glass sculptures and installations by internationally-acclaimed artists and designers, some of the most important on the international scene, who for the occasion tackled one of the arts to have made Venice famous throughout the world. This catalogue will become a "must" for collectors, designers, students and connoisseurs.

The fragile beauty of glass has ensured its popularity through the ages in forms ranging from simple beakers to ornate decorative masterpieces. This beautifully illustrated book traces the story of glass from its origins in Mesopotamia some 5000 years ago, to the creation of the elegant vessels of the Islamic Near East, the superb mastery of Renaissance Venice and the creation of modern glassware for daily use.

Glass can add an unusual and ethereal quality to a piece of jewellery. Its transparency, colour and unpredictability make glass a unique material to work with, but it also presents its own challenges. This book introduces the techniques of working with glass to jewellers, and explains how to decide which is the most suitable approach for your design. It covers specific properties of glass, tips for design and ideas for assembling a piece. Hot forming - includes fusing, casting and pate de verre, as well as lampworking. Cold forming - explains how to shape a piece of glass and then bond pieces together Decorative - explains how to embellish your pieces, from painting to photography transfers and metal leaf inclusions. It is a practical guide but, with a wealth of stunning finished pieces, and also provides inspiration for jewellers of all experiences.

The Ruskin Pottery operated from around 1898 to 1935. Founded by William Howson Taylor and his father Edward (Superintendent of the Birmingham School of Art) the pottery used simple forms and new glaze technologies in contrast to highly decorated majolica and earthenware that had been popular in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Ruskin Pottery was one of the most important potteries of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and William Howson Taylor was pre-eminent among a group of 'chemist potters' at the start of the twentieth century. The most important glaze effect was the reduction of copper and iron oxides during firing, to produce rich red, blue, lavender and green hues. This technique was also called 'high-fired' ware and the red glaze, 'sang de boeuf'. The Chinese had used reduction firing in previous centuries, but it fell out of use and was re-introduced by several European ceramicists during the late nineteenth century. William Howson Taylor became the greatest exponent of the technique, and won major awards at successive International Exhibitions, the first being at St Louis in 1904. This initiated an important export business to the USA, with stores that retailed his wares including Tiffany's. The pottery closed in 1933 with some pots being fired until final closure in 1935. William Howson Taylor, then ill, burnt all the glaze recipes and died soon after.

Renowned for their illustrious ceramic manufacturing heritage, the Staffordshire Potteries originally centred upon six towns: Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke-upon-Trent, Fenton and Longton. The modern city of Stoke-on-Trent was created from these six towns and around fifty villages. In The Potteries Through Time, author Mervyn Edwards presents a nostalgic visual chronicle of the towns and villages in the Potteries across the decades. In his previous Through Time books, Mervyn Edwards focused upon each of the six towns individually. This latest volume explores the hills and hollows between the centres whilst also offering new archive photographs of the main towns. We find shabby backstreets cowering in the shadow of enormous coal tips - the Potteries' own 'black hills' - and there are industrial hotspots and busy suburbs. Then there are the proud old chapels and pubs and the even prouder people that patronised them. Stoke-on-Trent was not a pretty place, but as the proverb tells us, 'where there is muck there is brass', and the fascinating landscape came to be captured by all manner of writers, artists and photographers. This collection of archive photographs is an engaging book that charts changing times and the shifting identity of the Potteries. It will be of immense interest to local residents, visitors and all those with links to the area.