One of the world’s finest assemblages of rings and gemstones, the Guy Ladrière Collection in Paris is of major importance both to the collector and the art historian. This handsome volume, written and compiled by three of the foremost experts on gems and semi-precious stones, is the first to catalogue, illustrate and describe all the pieces in the Collection. Comprising some three hundred items, and including a rich and varied mixture of cameos and intaglios, the Collection ranges from ancient artefacts originating in the Minoan period to gemstones and rings of the nineteenth century. It also boasts many medieval pieces, Christian crystal plaques and Lombardic stones with inscriptions. Of special interest are the prize pieces in the Collection. These include the famous rhinoceros, most probably depicting an identifiable animal (the celebrated ‘Madrid’ rhinoceros, also known as the ‘Marvel of Lisbon’ and taken from Portugal to Spain in 1583); Queen Elizabeth I crowned with the mythological lionskin of Hercules, and presented as the power to tame the forces of evil; and some remarkable and varied pairs of heads.

The Guy Ladrière Collection of Gems and Rings (The Philip Wilson Gems and Jewellery Series)

Arts & Photography

SCARISBRICK, Diana

Wagner, Claudia

History & Criticism

Philip Wilson Publishers

Alnwick Castle, ancestral seat of the Earls of Northumberland-the House of Percy-was built as a border fortress against the Scots in the twelfth century, if not earlier. Substantially enlarged in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and remaining in Percy family hands to this day, it stands now as a prime example of robust stone defensive architecture. Much visited and admired for its impressive exterior and interior, this dramatic stronghold and stately home is the setting for one of the most distinguished assemblages of gems in Great Britain still in private hands. The Beverley Collection reflects the longstanding interest of the English nobility in both accumulating and commissioning gemstones. The Collection was begun by the First Duchess of Northumberland in the early eighteenth century; but the greater part of it was made later in the century by Algernon Percy, First Earl of Beverley, during a Grand Tour of Europe while in the company of his mentor and tutor, the writer Louis Dutens. Their success in France and Italy was such that it incited the jealousy of the Empress Catherine of Russia, herself a passionate collector. The range of objects in the Collection-cameos, intaglios and finger rings of the highest quality-is considerable: Greek, Roman and Etruscan, as well as a notable assembly of neoclassical signed gems by British artists. One remarkable group of cameos (made, it seems, for the Roman Emperor Octavian/Augustus) was owned by Cardinal Grimani, who encouraged artist friends to draw the figures on them. One jewel clearly provided inspiration for Michelangelo's painting of Adam on the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican. The Beverley Collection has been little known, except by connoisseurs. This lavishly illustrated volume, written by three principal authorities on gems and semi-precious stones, brings it to the attention of a wider audience as a demonstration of the finest products of one of the oldest arts of the western world.

The Beverley Collection of Gems at Alnwick Castle (The Philip Wilson Gems and Jewellery Series)

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

The creation of miniature intaglios - or incised carvings - which could be impressed on clay or wax was one of the earliest crafts of civilisation. To this the Greeks added relief cameos, while comparable skills were lavished on the decoration of metal finger rings. These artefacts record subjects of significance for their period and place but are also the direct expression of an artist's skills and imagination. Engraved gems were collected first by the ancient Romans and then throughout the Renaissance were a source for knowledge of `classical' subjects and styles, when they were copied - from Michelangelo to Rubens - by the foremost artists of the day. The gemstones explored here are from a distinguished collection made in the earlier twentieth century by a notable connoisseur of ancient art. Many originate from named older European collections and were previously unknown to scholars and collectors. The authors have sought to offer a balanced selection of earlier eastern and Greek stones, alongside others from the neo-classical era. The book offers a survey of the finest products of the gems craft over millennia.

Masterpieces in Miniature: Engraved Gems from Prehistory to the Present (The Philip Wilson Gems and Jewellery Series)

BOARDMAN, JOHN

The German gem-engraver, medallist, and amateur scholar Lorenz Natter (1705- 1763), was so impressed by the size and quality of the collections of ancient and later engraved gems which he found in Britain that he proposed the publication of an extraordinarily ambitious catalogue – Museum Britannicum – which would present engravings and descriptions of the most important pieces. He made considerable progress to this end, producing several hundred drawings, but in time he decided to abandon the near completed project in the light of the apparent lack of interest shown in Britain. Only one of the intended plates in its final form ever appeared, in a catalogue which he published separately for Lord Bessborough’s collection. On Natter’s death the single copy of his magnum opus vanished mysteriously, presumed lost forever. All hope of recovering Natter’s unpublished papers seemed vain, and their very existence had come to be doubted. Yet they were to be found more than two hundred years after his death, in Spring 1975, when the classical scholar and renowned expert in gems, Oleg Neverov, chanced upon them at the bottom of a pile of papers in the archives of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. Neverov and his colleague Julia Kagan carried out the initial research on the Hermitage manuscripts and produced the first published account of this archival treasure. The present volume builds upon their earlier work to produce the first comprehensive publication of Museum Britannicum, offering full discussion in English and presenting Natter’s drawings and comments alongside modern information on the gems that can be identified and located through fresh research. This book is the result of a ten-year collaboration between scholars on the Beazley Archive gems research programme at Oxford’s Classical Art Research Centre and the State Hermitage Museum. It fulfills Natter’s vision for the Museum Britannicum – albeit two and a half centuries late – to the benefit of art historians, cultural historians, curators, and gem-lovers of today. Table of Contents Preface PART 1: I. An Anglo-Russian Project II. Lorenz Natter. Early Career III. Natter in Britain IV. Natter in Russia V. The Museum Britannicum Rediscovered VI. Afterword PART 2: VII. The Museum Britannicum: the catalogue and drawings VIII. The Collectors and their Gems IX. Lorenz Natter’s own Collection X. Natter’s own Index of the Museum Britannicum XI. Natter’s Treatise and miscellaneous drawings Index of gem subjects Index of inscriptions General Index to Part 1, and VIII

Natter’s Museum Britannicum: British gem collections and collectors of the mid-eighteenth century

Phillips, Catherine

Kagan, Julia

Archaeopress Archaeology

The German gem-engraver, medallist, and amateur scholar Lorenz Natter (1705-1763), was so impressed by the size and quality of the collections of ancient and later engraved gems which he found in Britain that he proposed the publication of an extraordinarily ambitious catalogue - Museum Britannicum - which would present engravings and descriptions of the most important pieces. He made considerable progress to this end, producing several hundred drawings, but in time he decided to abandon the near completed project in the light of the apparent lack of interest shown in Britain. Only one of the intended plates in its final form ever appeared, in a catalogue which he published separately for Lord Bessborough's collection. On Natter's death the single copy of his magnum opus vanished mysteriously, presumed lost forever. All hope of recovering Natter's unpublished papers seemed vain, and their very existence had come to be doubted. Yet they were to be found more than two hundred years after his death, in Spring 1975, when the classical scholar and renowned expert in gems, Oleg Neverov, chanced upon them at the bottom of a pile of papers in the archives of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. Neverov and his colleague Julia Kagan carried out the initial research on the Hermitage manuscripts and produced the first published account of this archival treasure. The present volume builds upon their earlier work to produce the first comprehensive publication of Museum Britannicum, offering full discussion in English and presenting Natter's drawings and comments alongside modern information on the gems that can be identified and located through fresh research. This book is the result of a ten-year collaboration between scholars on the Beazley Archive gems research programme at Oxford's Classical Art Research Centre and the State Hermitage Museum. It fulfills Natter's vision for the Museum Britannicum - albeit two and a half centuries late - to the benefit of art historians, cultural historians, curators, and gem-lovers of today.

A Collection of Classical and Eastern Intaglios, Rings and Cameos (BAR International)

Sculpture

British Archaeological Reports

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wagner, Claudia. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Wagner, Claudia

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wagner, Claudia. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Guy Ladrière Collection of Gems and Rings (The Philip Wilson Gems and Jewellery Series)

The Beverley Collection of Gems at Alnwick Castle (The Philip Wilson Gems and Jewellery Series)

Masterpieces in Miniature: Engraved Gems from Prehistory to the Present (The Philip Wilson Gems and Jewellery Series)

Natter’s Museum Britannicum: British gem collections and collectors of the mid-eighteenth century

Natter’s Museum Britannicum: British gem collections and collectors of the mid-eighteenth century

A Collection of Classical and Eastern Intaglios, Rings and Cameos (BAR International)