Books Available for Adoption
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A Compendium of ChroniclesBy Sheila Blair. London: Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, c1995.Adoption Amount: $250 Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery LibraryThe Compendium of Chronicles, written during the 14th century by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani (1247-1318) is considered the first world history. It was written for the Mongol Ilkhanate in Persia. It covers not only the history of the Mongols but major events occurring in China and Europe. This scholarly study by Sheila Blair examines a version of the original manuscript by looking at pages owned by the Khalili Collection and by the Edinburgh University Library. The Compendium was lavishly illustrated and is of great significance for the study of Ilkhanid manuscript painting. Dr... Read More |
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A Japanese menagerieBy Rosina Buckland, Timothy Clark, Shigeru Oikawa. London: British Museum Press, 2006.Adoption Amount: $250 Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery LibraryKawanabe Kyōsai (1831-1889) is considered to be an important successor to artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). Kyōsai was also Japan’s first political caricaturist. He was imprisoned a number of times by the shogunate for his disrespectful art. When not painting caricatures he often chose subjects from folklore, nature, religion, and the Nô drama. Harold Stern, former director of the Freer Gallery of Art, proposed mounting the first major exhibition of Kyōsai’s work but that plan was dropped with Stern’s untimely death in 1976. An exhibition was finally mounted in 1993 at the British... Read More |
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After WhistlerNew Haven: High Museum of Art, c2003.Adoption Amount: $250 Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery LibraryTravel to Paris was a prerequisite for aspiring American painters of the late nineteenth century. Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), an African American painter born in Pittsburg, was among the throng of artists to journey there. Tanner decided to become a painter at the age of thirteen after seeing an artist painting outdoors in a park in Philadelphia. In 1897, Tanner enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where he studied under Thomas Eakins (1844-1916). By 1891, he had arrived in Paris and enrolled in the Académie Julian, his study funded by Atlanta-based patrons Bishop... Read More |
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Ancient Chinese GoldBy Wei Han. Paris: Editions d'art et d'histoire, ARHIS, 2001.Adoption Amount: $250 Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery LibraryIn Chinese culture, gold is associated with power, wealth, longevity, and happiness. It is considered the most valuable and significant gift one can give, and is included in many celebrations, such as weddings, the birth of a child, the New Year, and other important occasions. Historically, gold’s importance made it a valuable ingredient in the "elixir of immortality." It was also important in rituals and ceremonies associated with unsolvable problems or unexplainable natural phenomena. Gold jewelry and decorative objects were considered as a sign of wealth and status, and royal... Read More |
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Armenian ArtBy Sirarpie Der Nersessian. London: Thames and Hudson, 1977.Adoption Amount: $250 Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery LibrarySirarpie Der Nersessian (1896-1989) was an Armenian art historian. Born in Istanbul, she fled in 1915 to escape the persecutions that had erupted against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. She lived for a time in Switzerland, then moved to Paris in 1919, where she obtained a graduate degree at the Sorbonne. By the mid-20th century, she was living in Washington D.C., working as a scholar at Dumbarton Oaks. In 1963, she published a book on the Freer Gallery of Art’s Armenian Gospel manuscript folios. In Armenian Art, published in 1977, Der Nersessian focused on art produced after... Read More |
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Chinese Armorial Porcelain for the Dutch MarketBy Jochem Kroes. Den Haag: Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie, 2007.Adoption Amount: $250 Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery LibraryThis is a catalog of Chinese porcelain decorated with Dutch family coats of arms, the arms of Dutch provinces and cities, and monograms. These items were made-to-order for members of the Dutch patrician class. This catalog illustrates and analyzes 455 of the approximately 500 Dutch armorial porcelain services known to exist. It is meant to be used as a reference book, and it includes not only detailed descriptions of the services, but also information about the families who commissioned and acquired this armorial porcelain. It is an important historical work examining Chinese export... Read More |
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Dance of FireBy Hulya Bilgi. Istanbul: Vehbi Koc Foundation and Sadberk Hanim Museum, 2009.Adoption Amount: $250 Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery LibraryTiles and ceramics produced in Iznik between the 15th and 17th centuries represent a significant artistic achievement for Turkey. Tiles were frequently used as decoration in Turkish Seljuk period (1071-1243 AD) architecture for important public buildings. Beginning with the Ottomans in the 15th century, there was increasing demand for tiles, which were used to decorate the mosques and palaces of their new capital of Istanbul. This led to the establishment of a center for ceramic production in Iznik. At the height of Iznik tile production there were as many as 300 workshops in the town... Read More |
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De Paris a SamarkandBy Marie de Ujfalvy-Bourdon. Paris: Hachette, 1880.Adoption Amount: $395 Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery LibraryA travelogue written of Marie de Ujfalvy-Bourdon, De Paris à Samarkand, was published in 1880. Marie de Ujfalvy-Bourdon (1845- 19?? ) traveled with her husband, Károly Jenő Ujfalvy de Mezőkövesd (16 May 1842 – 31 January 1904) who was a noted ethnographic researcher and linguist of Central Asia and the Himalayas. In 1876 he was sent by the French Ministry of Public Education on a scientific expedition to the newly conquered regions of Russian Central Asia. Marie accompanied him on the journey, something that was extremely rare for a woman of that time to do. She recorded their travels.... Read More |
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Dejima ZuBy Nagasaki-shi Dejima Shiseki Seibi Shingikai. Nagasaki-shi : Nagasaki-shi, Heisei 2 [1990].Adoption Amount: $250 Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery LibraryDejima, or Deshima, was a small fan-shaped artificial island in the bay of Nagasaki, Japan. During the Edo period (1615-1868), Dejima was the only place in which foreign traders were allowed to conduct business with Japan. It was originally built for Portuguese traders but was later used by the Dutch East India Company. In 1858, when Japan concluded the Treaty of Kanagawa with the United States, Dejima’s role as the only port of entry for the West was over. The island was expanded by reclaiming land, and it was merged into Nagasaki, thus obscuring the island’s original borders. Since... Read More |
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Die Textilien aus PalmyraBy Andreas Schmidt-Colinet. Mainz am Rhein: P. von Zabern, 2000.Adoption Amount: $250 Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery LibraryThe ancient city of Palmyra was, for a number of centuries, an important trading center for materials transported across the Silk Road to and from many points in Asia and the Middle East. Much of our current understanding of silk in antiquity comes from the study of material from Palmyra. This book on Palmyra textiles picks up from earlier scholarship, seeking to identify the origin of these silks and to expand their cultural context. One chapter looks at the Chinese inscriptions on the silks. Another describes the techniques and possible dyes used in the Eastern Mediterranean and the... Read More |
