Word: enamel
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...story began in 1977. Aryeh, an avid collector of Russian artifacts who had emigrated from Iran to the U.S., owned some 100 of Faberge's plain enamel eggs, which were made for ordinary collectors and not monarchs. Hearing that an Imperial egg was being auctioned off by Christie's in Geneva, he asked his sister Shahnaz, who lived in Switzerland, to try to buy it. This particular egg was supposedly commissioned for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty in 1913 by Czarina Alexandra for her husband Nicholas II. It opens to reveal a tiny statue of Nicholas astride...
...artist. In Cellini (Abbeville; 324 pages; $85), Sir John Pope-Hennessy corrects this impression. Although much of Cellini's early work in precious metals vanished, enough sculpture survives (and is photographed here in careful detail) to convince anyone of its creator's genius. From the exquisite gold and enamel of The Saltcellar of Francis I to the muscular bronze of Perseus, the impression grows: Cellini was better than even he had the nerve to maintain...
When Venetian troops ransacked Constantinople early in the 13th century, they brought home religious ornaments created by the world's finest craftsmen: goldsmiths, jewelers, wizards who worked in enamel. The Treasury of San Marco Venice (Abrams; 337 pages; $60) displays the loot, and poring over the glittering pictures is like wandering in a celestial gem shop. Among the glories here are a lyrical alabaster-and-pearl paten, which may have come from St. Sophia, and an opulent, dappled sardonyx chalice decorated with enamel figures that resemble mini-mosaics. There are treasuries or reliquaries in important churches all over Europe...
...very handsomely makes clear. In the early part of the century, designers like the Spaniard Luis Masriera were turning out lovely art nouveau brooches--golden angels balancing gleaming pearls--and as late as 1949 Salvador Dali transformed one of his famous surrealistic eyes into a diamond, ruby and enamel watch. The gold and the jewels still shine in the '80s, but too many designers, alas, seem to specialize in the weird and bizarre...
INSIDE THE INSTITUTE of Contemporary Art (ICA) a five-foot high black and white photograph of a cat--a simple shot pasted together from 16 smaller rectangular prints--hangs beside several photographs of desert rock brushed over with turpentine and enamel. Downstairs a collage of images made from videotape of the Mary Decker-Zola Budd Olympic confrontation faces Ku Khux Klan members garbed in colorful, hooded uniforms...