DOI Heft:
Nr. 334 (March 1925)
DOI Artikel:A shelf of new art books
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19984#0244
inceRfiAcionAL
stum©
A SHELF of NEW ART BOOKS
EARLY CHINESE BRONZES. By Albert J.
Koop. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
Price, $30.
A lbert J. Koop, who is assistant-keeper in the depart-
OCl ment of metalwork in the Victoria and Albert
Museum, has added a volume to the rapidly increas-
ing, although still small, number of books in English on
Chinese art. His present monograph is the first on bronze,
although Leigh Ashton's book on Chinese sculpture and
the coming introduction to Chinese art announded by the
Burlington Magazine both embrace the same subject.
Mr. Koop makes an important contribution to the
classification of ancient bronzes by his division according
to style rather than period. The well-marked characteris-
tics developed during the reign of the Chou dynasty might
very well appear on a piece from the succeeding dynasties
of Ch'in or Han, side by side with pieces in the newer
styles. The fact that each of the four great bronze styles
was evolved during the four dynasties of Chou, Ch'in,
Han and T'ang makes it feasible to use these names in
describing the style without inferring that the piece is
thereby placed within certain chronological boundaries. It
is practically impossible to say just when a bronze was
actually produced, for the provenance of so few pieces is
known, and the final refuge of the attributer, the patina,
is not always to be relied upon.
Each of the four styles, Chou, Ch'in, Han and T'ang,
is described separately and in detail, and there is also a
dictionary of types of bronze vessels and other objects to
the number of fifty-five. Almost all bronze vessels had a
part in some ritual in the sacrifice of food or wine and had
definitely prescribed forms and usages. A key to the pro-
nunciation of their Chinese names is a boon to the student
who finds such terms as cbueb, lei, tsun or hsien more
picturesque than pronounceable.
The book includes very fine, large collotype reproduc-
tions of more than a hundred examples of bronzes in a
number of European public and private collections. A few
are in color, showing the variety of hues taken by the
patina. Fully half of the text consists of a catalogue of the
pieces illustrated.
THE HERITAGE OF COTTON. By M. D. C.
Crawford. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.
Price, $7.so.
rhe story of cotton, "the fiber of two worlds and
many ages" as Mr. Crawford calls it, has many
ramifications in political and artistic history. It has
figured ubiquitously in commerce, agriculture and art, has
been a tie between alien people, has brought industrial
supremacy to some and poverty to others; it is an immortal
figure, appearing among practically all peoples and yet
attached to none, so that its history has something of an
epic character.
The book avows itself to be non-technical so far as the
discussion of various processes of spinning, weaving and
dyeing permits. Beginning with the pre-historic appear-
ance of cotton fabric in India and in pre-Inca Peru, where
in its infancy it set standards which we have never sur-
passed, Mr. Crawford traces it through medieval Europe
and into the New World, completing the record with an
account of the inventions in this country and England
which gave to English-speaking peoples a control of the
industry which they still possess. The conclusion of the
tale is, however, not final. What will be the future of
cotton? It is in the hope of persuading manufacturers and
designers to look upon cotton as "one of the subtlest
mediums of art" that Mr. Crawford writes his book. Our
present-day fabrics in no way approach the miracles of
weaving found in the grave clothes of ancient Peru, nor
can they rival the loveliness of the Dacca muslins of India.
In order that there may be another golden age of cotton
textiles, the designer of the future must be more than a
creator of patterns. He must understand the machine,
must work with the technician, must in fact combine the
functions of the historian of art, the draftsman, the tech-
nician and the style expert all in one.
A bibliography, illustrations and a chronological outline
of the history of cotton are valuable adjuncts to the text.
OLD ENGLISH SILVER. By W. W. Watts, F.
S. A. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
Price, $30.
rpns sumptuously appointed volume on old English
silver, dedicated to "Her Most Gracious Majesty the
Queen," will gladden the hearts of all specialists in
this field of art. The historical aspect of this ancient craft
has been ably and sympathetically handled by W. W.
Watts, formerly keeper of the Department of Metalwork
in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and his interesting
text is amplified and adorned with a se't of one hundred and
thirty-four plates embodying the careful reproduction of
perhaps four or five times that number of individual objects
in silver.
The matter of silversmithing in England appears to
have had none too great attention paid it by historians,
archeologists or art writers in the past, so that Mr. Watts'
labors in this department have a decided raison d'etre at
the start. The volume is concisely developed, tracing with
the help of the illustrations the course of the silversmiths
and their wares from the very beginnings in medieval times
through the German period in the sixteenth century and
the more English stage under the early Stuart sovereigns,
then into the stern simplicities of the Cromwellian days
and the later extravagancies of the Restoration, passing
through the plain period of Anne and George I to the clas-
sical development of style in the latter half of the eight-
eenth century.
The history of silver has a distinctly romantic cast to
it. From the free beginnings in the monasteries and its
subsequent segregation in the guilds—the earliest band of
English goldsmiths to be so classified was one of 1180—
the silver craft played an important part in the ceremonial
life of the country, reflecting the various tastes and
whimsies of each period as the nation progressed. While
circumstance has caused the disappearance of much of the
earliest silver, enough remains to piece out the early
chapters of the workers in this metal. Mr. Watts takes
his tale of English silver as far back as the seventh century,
then on through the glorious days of a rising art until the
beginning of the sixteenth century when London's Cheap-
side became the "chief city of this our city" and its fame
spread all over Europe, and so through the reign of George
Jive hundred Jour
march 1925
stum©
A SHELF of NEW ART BOOKS
EARLY CHINESE BRONZES. By Albert J.
Koop. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
Price, $30.
A lbert J. Koop, who is assistant-keeper in the depart-
OCl ment of metalwork in the Victoria and Albert
Museum, has added a volume to the rapidly increas-
ing, although still small, number of books in English on
Chinese art. His present monograph is the first on bronze,
although Leigh Ashton's book on Chinese sculpture and
the coming introduction to Chinese art announded by the
Burlington Magazine both embrace the same subject.
Mr. Koop makes an important contribution to the
classification of ancient bronzes by his division according
to style rather than period. The well-marked characteris-
tics developed during the reign of the Chou dynasty might
very well appear on a piece from the succeeding dynasties
of Ch'in or Han, side by side with pieces in the newer
styles. The fact that each of the four great bronze styles
was evolved during the four dynasties of Chou, Ch'in,
Han and T'ang makes it feasible to use these names in
describing the style without inferring that the piece is
thereby placed within certain chronological boundaries. It
is practically impossible to say just when a bronze was
actually produced, for the provenance of so few pieces is
known, and the final refuge of the attributer, the patina,
is not always to be relied upon.
Each of the four styles, Chou, Ch'in, Han and T'ang,
is described separately and in detail, and there is also a
dictionary of types of bronze vessels and other objects to
the number of fifty-five. Almost all bronze vessels had a
part in some ritual in the sacrifice of food or wine and had
definitely prescribed forms and usages. A key to the pro-
nunciation of their Chinese names is a boon to the student
who finds such terms as cbueb, lei, tsun or hsien more
picturesque than pronounceable.
The book includes very fine, large collotype reproduc-
tions of more than a hundred examples of bronzes in a
number of European public and private collections. A few
are in color, showing the variety of hues taken by the
patina. Fully half of the text consists of a catalogue of the
pieces illustrated.
THE HERITAGE OF COTTON. By M. D. C.
Crawford. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.
Price, $7.so.
rhe story of cotton, "the fiber of two worlds and
many ages" as Mr. Crawford calls it, has many
ramifications in political and artistic history. It has
figured ubiquitously in commerce, agriculture and art, has
been a tie between alien people, has brought industrial
supremacy to some and poverty to others; it is an immortal
figure, appearing among practically all peoples and yet
attached to none, so that its history has something of an
epic character.
The book avows itself to be non-technical so far as the
discussion of various processes of spinning, weaving and
dyeing permits. Beginning with the pre-historic appear-
ance of cotton fabric in India and in pre-Inca Peru, where
in its infancy it set standards which we have never sur-
passed, Mr. Crawford traces it through medieval Europe
and into the New World, completing the record with an
account of the inventions in this country and England
which gave to English-speaking peoples a control of the
industry which they still possess. The conclusion of the
tale is, however, not final. What will be the future of
cotton? It is in the hope of persuading manufacturers and
designers to look upon cotton as "one of the subtlest
mediums of art" that Mr. Crawford writes his book. Our
present-day fabrics in no way approach the miracles of
weaving found in the grave clothes of ancient Peru, nor
can they rival the loveliness of the Dacca muslins of India.
In order that there may be another golden age of cotton
textiles, the designer of the future must be more than a
creator of patterns. He must understand the machine,
must work with the technician, must in fact combine the
functions of the historian of art, the draftsman, the tech-
nician and the style expert all in one.
A bibliography, illustrations and a chronological outline
of the history of cotton are valuable adjuncts to the text.
OLD ENGLISH SILVER. By W. W. Watts, F.
S. A. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
Price, $30.
rpns sumptuously appointed volume on old English
silver, dedicated to "Her Most Gracious Majesty the
Queen," will gladden the hearts of all specialists in
this field of art. The historical aspect of this ancient craft
has been ably and sympathetically handled by W. W.
Watts, formerly keeper of the Department of Metalwork
in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and his interesting
text is amplified and adorned with a se't of one hundred and
thirty-four plates embodying the careful reproduction of
perhaps four or five times that number of individual objects
in silver.
The matter of silversmithing in England appears to
have had none too great attention paid it by historians,
archeologists or art writers in the past, so that Mr. Watts'
labors in this department have a decided raison d'etre at
the start. The volume is concisely developed, tracing with
the help of the illustrations the course of the silversmiths
and their wares from the very beginnings in medieval times
through the German period in the sixteenth century and
the more English stage under the early Stuart sovereigns,
then into the stern simplicities of the Cromwellian days
and the later extravagancies of the Restoration, passing
through the plain period of Anne and George I to the clas-
sical development of style in the latter half of the eight-
eenth century.
The history of silver has a distinctly romantic cast to
it. From the free beginnings in the monasteries and its
subsequent segregation in the guilds—the earliest band of
English goldsmiths to be so classified was one of 1180—
the silver craft played an important part in the ceremonial
life of the country, reflecting the various tastes and
whimsies of each period as the nation progressed. While
circumstance has caused the disappearance of much of the
earliest silver, enough remains to piece out the early
chapters of the workers in this metal. Mr. Watts takes
his tale of English silver as far back as the seventh century,
then on through the glorious days of a rising art until the
beginning of the sixteenth century when London's Cheap-
side became the "chief city of this our city" and its fame
spread all over Europe, and so through the reign of George
Jive hundred Jour
march 1925