Pratapaditya Pal. Tibetan Paintings : A Study of Tibetan Thankas, 11th-19th Centuries. Art Media Resources 2000  Hardcover in DJ. Like New/Like New Unused  Quarto 223 pp

“Book assesses the role of the city of Shiraz in Iranian book production between the early fourteenth and mid-fifteenth centuries. It is the first detailed analysis of all aspects of the book – illumination, codicology, illustration, calligraphy, and binding – during this significant era when the look of the book was transformed. Four periods of change are identified: the years following 1340 until the end of Injuid rule in Shiraz; the later 1350s and the 1360s, during Muzaffarid rule; the years from 1409 to 1415, when the Timurid prince Iskandar Sultan was governor of Shiraz; and the decade (1435-45) following the death of Ibrahim Sultan, Iskandar’s cousin and successor as governor. Although the focus is Shiraz, the author’s comparative and chronological approach to the material means production elsewhere in Iran is also considered, while the results of the study increase our understanding of the history and development of the arts of the book not only in Shiraz, or even Iran as whole, but also in other centers of the Islamic world that followed the Iranian model. Highlights of this book, which is heavily illustrated with exquisite illuminated manuscript pages, are its examination of illumination, an overlooked area of book production; the codicological aspects of the manuscripts, including paper and text layout; and the development of nasta’liq script. “

“After brief summaries of early Norwegian history, Snorri Sturluson’s career, and previous studies of Heimskringla , the core of this book is a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the text. It is normally treated as a collection of sagas about Norwegian kings, but there is no evidence that Snorri planned such an arrangement. Indeed, in his preface Snorri described the book as an account of ‘chieftains who had dominium in the North and were speakers of the Danish tongue, ‘ that is, not only kings but others ‘of exalted lineage.’ Some of these chieftains and their kin figure more prominently and are judged more favourably by Snorri than most kings. Moreover, most of the conflicts described by Snorri were not between individuals but involved their families and adherents, including women who often have important and active roles, and sometimes apparently express Snorri’s own views. The main conclusion of this study is that Snorri — who was himself a chieftain ( go i) — wrote Heimskringla during the reign of Hakon Hakonsson (1217-1263) to criticize the development of the central power of king and church at the expense of the traditional authority of chieftains. A comparison with Gesta Danorum by Snorri’s Danish contemporary Saxo Grammaticus, shows that they were both masters of the art of ambiguity. “

“This book catalogues the Getty Museum’s fine collection of forty-five Italian ceramic objects spanning four hundred years, including a pair of eighteenth-century candlesticks representing mythological scenes, a tabletop with hunting scenes, and, from the 1790s, the beautifully modeled and painted Saint Joseph with the Christ Child. Containing the most recent scientific, historical, and iconographic information about the Museum’s holdings, Italian Ceramics offers a wealth of new information about the Getty Museum’s superb collection of Italian ceramic art.”

Elizabeth Simpson and Krysia Spirydowicz. Gordion : Ahsap Eserlier : Wood Furniture. Gordion Furniture Project 1999 Softcover. Like New Unused Quarto 172 pp