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TOMLIN,MAURICE: : VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM:CATALOGUE OF ADAM PERIOD FURNITURE

LONDON.HMSO,VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM,1982.

ISBN 0901486442.

UK,8vo wraps (softback),1st edn.FINE.No owner inscrptn - appears an unread copy as there are no reading creases present to spine/backstrip.Crisp, clean, glossy laminated, illustrated card wraps with negligible shelf-wear and minimal creasing, rubbing or bumping to edges or corners and immaculate,plain white eps.Top+fore-edges bright, crisp and clean;contents bright, tight and pristine.8vo,2-211pp includes title-page,contents list,acknowledgements,author intro,books referred to list,26 chapters/sections/groups, profuse b/w item photographs,biblio,an index and front+ rear eps. The furniture in this volume,dating from between 1760 and 1800,is either wholly or partly in the Neo-Classical style. Robert Adam, though not the first designer to introduce Neo-Classical features into English furniture, was the leading exponent of the style in this century (19thC).His working life, from his return to this country from Italy in 1758 to his death in 1792, coincides almost exactly with the period under review.Commenting on the all-prevading influence of Adam's style on his contemporaries, Sir John Soane, addressing the students of the Royal Academy in 1823, said, 'The light and elegant ornaments, the varied compartments in the ceilings of Mr Adam, imitated from Ancient Works in the Baths and Villas of the Romans, were soon applied in designs for chairs, tables, carpets and in every other species of furniture.To Mr Adam's taste in the ornament of his buildings and furniture we stand indebted, inasmuch as manufacturers of every kind felt, as it were, the electric power of this revolution in art.' The most important group of furniture included in this catalogue is that designed between 1767 and 1779 by Adam, or under his supervision,for the State Rooms at Osterley Park.This furniture is still at the house, the contents of which comes under the jurisdiction of the Victoria and Albert Museum.The first entries in the catalogue, however, concern several items of furniture which date from the earliest phase of Neo-Classicism in England, made before Adam was engaged on the furnishing of Osterley. After the Osterley furniture other items with which Adams was directly concerned are discussed;then follows a section devoted to other grand pieces closely related to Adam's work. The subsequent sections of the Catalogue are mainly devoted to furniture of the kind commonly known as 'Hepplewhite', in which the style used by Adam for his State Rooms has been modified and simplified for a wider market.In many of these pieces the retention of Rococo features can be seen although the decoration is in the Neo-Classical idiom.Furniture of a similar character, related to the earlier designs of Sheraton, as illustrated in his Drawing Book, has also been included.Items in the manner of Sheraton's later pattern-books - where a distinctly new, early nineteenth-century, character appears - are not included in this catalogue.The early manifestations of Neo-Classicism in England have been extensively studied and discussed and new information is continually coming to light.Moreover, a great deal of scholarship has been devoted to works on Adams and his contemporaries.Since this information is readily available elsewhere, no attempt is made here to survey this interesting phase in the history of decorative arts in England.Introductory sections giving background information are kept quite short in those instances where it is possible to refer the reader to general works on the subject.A select bibliography is included and more specific references may be found under individual catalogue entries. Please contact seller,because of the value/weight of this item,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

UK,8vo wraps,1st edn.

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