'Figured Paper for Hanging Rooms': The manufacture, design and consumption of wallpapers for English domestic interiors, c.1740-c.1800

This thesis focuses on paper hangings, an hitherto understudied material in comparison to other components of the Eighteenth century domestic interior. Drawing on recent theories of consumption and the nature of domestic space, the thesis uses study of extant and reconstructed schemes, surviving papers and archival material to illuminate the material's increasingly important role in decoration during the second half of the century. Papers studied include Chinese papers and English papers in the Chinese style, English papers imitating architectural, sculpted and painted ornament and late century English and imported prints and panelled schemes. Three key issues are examined. Firstly, the thesis focuses attention on the structure of the trade, constructing a new model for understanding the way in which the manufacture, retailing, distribution and hanging of papers was organised. Examining the role of imports as well as the rapid expansion of the domestic trade, the thesis argues that control of this trade was contested by both new, and established, trades involved in decoration. Secondly, the role of design is analysed, particularly in terms of the relationship between imitation and innovation. Study of papers' sources further illuminates this issue, for example by examining how far English manufacturers sought to imitate Chinese originals and also how some Chinese papers rework European models. The relationship with other types of wall decoration and three dimensional ornament is also considered; the argument here is that far from merely copying printed designs, papers appropriated design sources from stucco, ceramics and textiles. Thirdly, and finally, aspects of consumption are examined. The thesis investigates how far the selection of paper supports the argument that the period witnessed increased differentiation of space, by gender or function. It questions easy distinctions between the choices of male and female consumers, arguing that both negotiated the materials' positive and negative associations

Study of Kashan Metalworking During Qajar Dynasty with a Religious Approach

This article examines the close relationship between human and religious thoughts, ideas, and beliefs and their artistic manifestations. Since Qajar metalworking has been significantly influenced by religion and also these works are one of the most important immortal documents for studying social, political, cultural, and economic conditions in the Qajar dynasty, the present research was conducted. The main goal of this research is to clarify whether the metalworking of this period has a trend towards evolution? What are the changes of the decorative elements and motifs and symbols, and in the meantime, what effects have religious thoughts and beliefs as an important factor in human life, on the evolution of Qajar metalworking?  The research method was library-documentary; however, the field research method has also been used for the works of the Central and Anthropology Museums in Mashhad along with interviews and photography of the works of several collectors in Kashan such as Mr. Moshki, Mr. Masoudi Niasar, and Mr. Sharif

The art of craft in the interior

In relation to the most characteristic architectural styles and movements, this paper discusses the issues of creation and development of artistic crafts that influence the formation and decoration of interior space. The evolution of crafts from a purely utilitarian activity to a form of decorative and applied art used to transform the interior environment by holistic and functional means is being considered through the lens of subjectspatial and functional-artistic organization

The Influence of Andrea Pozzo ’ s models from His Treatise Perspectivae pictorum atque architectorum on Croatian 18th-Century Illusionist Altarpieces

The paper brings new insights into the reception and use of Andrea Pozzo ’ s figures, published in his treatise Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum (1693, 1700), in 18th-century painted altarpieces in Croatia. Certain figures can be established as models for the design of painted altarpieces in the oeuvres of Ivan Krstitelj Ranger, Anton Jožef Lerchinger, and Antun Archer. Each of these painters used Pozzo’s models and principles in an idiosyncratic way, reflecting thereby different approaches and stylistic developments in 18th-century wall painting in Croatia

The adaptation of the main floor of the Palace Melo e Abreu (18th century) to an infirmary of the old asylum of mendicity: history and tile panels compositional characterization

Due to its sunny location and mild climate, the hill of Sant'Ana in Lisbon was, since early times, the place of construction of religious and civil buildings. In the eighteenth century, near the former Santo António dos Capuchos Convent (later Hospital – HSAC), a Baroque palace was erected and later on rebuilt by the Melo e Abreu family (later Condes de Murça in the 19th century), whose noble rooms were decorated by a set of high quality tiles, concerned with iconographic and plasticity aspects. The transfer of the Melo e Abreu family to the parish of Santos-o-Velho and subsequent founding of the Asilo da Mendicidade, allowed the purchase of the building in order to expand the assistance space. Currently, the palace serves hospital’s needs, with all the constraints resulting from the cohabitation between cultural heritage and professional medical care day life. Thus, Palace Melo e Abreu is a good case study, not only for the functional changes that it has been subjected to, but also for the rehabilitation measures for structural restoration and conservation made over time. For the assessment of its importance in terms of both heritage and scientific history, we will present an interdisciplinary study, including History of Art and Archaeometry; In this work (together with the history of the adaptation of the main floor of the Palace Melo e Abreu to an infirmary of the old asylum of mendacity) a first stage of the archaeometric approach is presented, comprising the compositional characterization (chemical and mineralogical) of both mortar and glazed tile body of selected panels. We believe that this paper will promote a deep reflection about the safeguard and future heritage policies of this kind of Lisbon's hospitals.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A re-assessment of ornament as a sculptural element

This dissertation partial 2 and photographic documentation was produced in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. In my undergraduate study I was interested in the way in which familiar objects changed their meaning in different contexts. In this study, my focus of attention has been on the transference of meaning associated with the conventionalised language of historical ornament. This has involved a process of incorporating 'found' imagery into composite images of a fantastical nature. The use of ornament as a source material posed problems. The original symbolic function and communicative power of many ornamental motifs and images has been undermined by constant use. As such they have become cliched. I have attempted to revitalise these tired forms through a re-assessment of their value as 'sculptural' elements and by an ironical examination of their past associations. Before re-contextualising the work in a contemporary dimension, it was necessary to undertake a survey of the historical antecedents of revivalism and other forms of aesthetic eclecticism. Although schematic, this overview was important to my understanding, and I have devoted a full chapter of the dissertation to this section of the study. A discussion of current Post-Modern debates is included and forms a central part of this section

From the Grotesque to the Exotic: The Evolution of Rococo Ornament in the Decorative Arts in France

The focus of this exhibition is to illustrate the evolution of rococo ornament in France across a wide range of the decorative arts. In so doing, the character of ornament and the rococo will also be revealed, illustrating the synthesis between the two at this time. The exhibition does this by examining four main sources of ornament characteristic of the rococo period; those of the grotesque, the figure, nature, and the exotic. Whilst the origin and subsequent development of each of these ornaments in the context of the rococo will be examined independently, the aim of the exhibition is to illustrate the interactions between the four. Influences on ornament outside the artistic spectrum will also be examined, such as the political and economic events of the time, and the changes in society and taste. Although there is always a certain mystery to the evolution of artistic creation, some parallels can be drawn between the realm of ornament and the world in which it lives. This is because ornament is constantly subject to change, reacting to current influences upon it. This exhibition sets out to illustrate why and how this is particularly true of the era of the rococo

Some Neglected Aspects of the Rococo: Berkeley, Vico, and Rococo Style.

The Rococo period in the arts, flourishing mainly from about 1710 to about 1750, was stylistically unified, but nevertheless its tremendous productivity and appeal throughout Occidental culture has proven difficult to explain. Having no contemporary theoretical literature, the Rococo is commonly taken to have been a final and degenerate form of the Baroque era or an extravagance arising from the supposed careless frivolity of the elites, including the intellectuals of the Enlightenment. Neither approach adequately accounts for Rococo style. Naming the Rococo raises profound issues for understanding the relations between conception and production in historical terms. Against the many difficulties that the term has involved in accounting for an immense but elusive cultural movement, this thesis argues that some of the chief philosophical conceptions of the period clarify the particular character and significance of Rococo production. Rococo production is here studied chiefly in decor, architecture, and the plastic arts. This thesis also makes an extended general argument for the value of intellectual history. Rococo style is a group of visual effects of which the central character is atectonicity. This is established by a synthesizing overview of Rococo ornamental motifs. Principal theorists of post-Cartesian thought have failed to see how these distinguish Rococo style from both Baroque and Enlightenment culture. The analysis addresses the historical narratives of Benjamin, Adorno, Foucault, Deleuze, and others about Baroque and Enlightenment culture. The core historical claim of this thesis is that Rococo atectonic effects are visual forms of the anti-materialist, idealist ontology of George Berkeley and of the metaphysics and ontology in the early work of Giambattista Vico. Close readings of important passages from works of both philosophers published in 1710 develop the relationship between atectonics and idealist ontology. Both men rejected the Baroque hierarchical cosmology in favor of finitude as the key to human understanding. The readings center on the issue of causality, including Berkeley’s views of the perfect contingency of the world and on Vico’s theories of truth and ingenium. A reading of Diderot’s critique of the Rococo, which led the reaction to it, shows that he recognized the power of idealist ontology in the Rococo cultural production. The larger force in the rejection of Rococo is the emergence of the sublime as a morally fearful feature of physical nature. Montesquieu’s aesthetic work also shows the transition to a more rigidly determined view of existence, which was expressed but constrained in the little-recognized lattice motif in Rococo arts. The result of these readings is the influence during and after the Rococo period of the concept of continuous creation, in which the memory and imagination of the human subject relays God-given powers of creation into the production of culture. Continuous creation also suggested a human capability to animate material nature. Rococo style displays this as pre-cinematic effects that represent the non-material, non-causal deep structure of reality