While imported Chinese porcelain had become a valuable commodity in Europe in the seventeenth century, local attempts to produce porcelain long remained unsuccessful. At last, the secret of hard-paste porcelain was uncovered, and in 1710, the first E...

"Arts of the City Victorious" is the first book-length study of the art and architecture of the Fatimids, the Ismaili Shi'i dynasty that ruled in North Africa and Egypt from 909 to 1171. The Fatimids are most famous for founding the city of al-Qahira...

Born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922) is renowned for his paintings and prints that take their subject matter from nature and reflect the orderly design and fine handcrafting championed by the Arts & Crafts movement. This char...

The china used by the First Families, both at the White House and in their private homes, reveals a fascinating story of culture and society as it has evolved in the United States since its early days. In this handsome book, which documents over 200...

On January 26, 1957, Richard Hamilton wrote a now-famous letter outlining his definition of what "Pop Art Is". This volume celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of Hamilton's prophetic document, presenting the works of more than forty artists from his...

Martha Banta reaches across several disciplines to investigate America's early quest to shape an aesthetic equal to the nation's belief in its cultural worth. Marked by an unusually wide-ranging sweep, the book focuses on three major "testing grounds...