Search results for ""Ashmolean Museum""

This book uses the busts on the Chantrey Wall in the Ashmolean Museum to give an introduction to the remarkable career of Francis Chantrey (1781-1841), and the collection in the Ashmolean. The book charts the progress of the busts from Chantrey's workshop to a Victorian national treasure: the first monographic collection of British sculpture to become a part of a permanent museum collection. It follows the return of the busts from basement storage to their conservation and triumphant redisplay in the new building. The book begins and ends with the Chantrey Wall, one of the most photographed displays of recent years providing non-specialist readers an introduction to one of the giants of British sculpture, and one of the most important sculpture collections in the country.

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The collections of twentieth-century paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, have developed largely through the generosity of individuals. Notable among these in the early decades of the century were Frank Hindley Smith and Mrs W F R Weldon, while since the Second World War the Museum's collections have been enriched through gifts and requests from Thomas Balston, R A P Bevan, Molly Freeman, Christopher Hewett and others. This book gives the reader a taste of the wide range of the collection, with its representative group of Camden Town and Euston Road School pictures, and important early works by Bonnard, Picasso and Matisse.

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These essays by Hahn and West will deal respectively with the formation of the collection and the figure of Bent Juel-Jensen, the seminal Aksumite coin collector in Oxford (as well as a medical doctor, academic, and traveller). They will also discuss recent problems that have emerged regarding the study of this coinage. In its entirety, this publication will make a fundamental contribution to this area of research and be an indispensable acquisition for many institutions and individuals.

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Illustrated from the Ashmolean's collection of contemporary sculpture, this book provides a context in terms of the Ashmolean's world-famous collections of antique and renaissance sculpture and the development of twentieth-century sculpture as a whole. It makes accessible for the first time many pieces by, among others, Epstein, Frink, Maillol, Moore, Underwood and Zadkrine. It includes mainly small bronzes, but some larger works are featured.

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The collections of twentieth-century paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, have developed largely through the generosity of individuals. Notable among these in the early decades of the century were Frank Hindley Smith and Mrs W F R Weldon, while since the Second World War the Museum's collections have been enriched through gifts and requests from Thomas Balston, R A P Bevan, Molly Freeman, Christopher Hewett and others. This book gives the reader a taste of the wide range of the collection, with its representative group of Camden Town and Euston Road School pictures, and important early works by Bonnard, Picasso and Matisse.

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Manju netsuke have never been the subject of a book on netsuke. Many books ignore them completely and it is hoped that this catalogue will throw light on the differences between the manju and other better-known types of netsuke. Dr. Barnett was one of a handful of collectors of one particular type of netsuke, the manju. These were not widely appreciated until about ten years ago when interest began to increase and the exquisite workmanship and design of this group of carvers was noticed as an art in its own right and one which presents the artist with a challenge completely different from the more popular katabori netsuke, carved in the round. Dr. Barnett continued to collect until just before her death in 2000, by which time she had acquired some of the finest pieces to be sold over 30 years which will be presented in this book. Manju netsuke have played a small part in the many publications on netsuke, but there has never been a catalogue entirely devoted to the subject. The book aims to provide a description of each object and to explain the tales they illustrate and the sources of these tales, from literature and printed picture books. The range of subjects is wide and includes religious images, scenes from festivals, the theatre, historical incidents, folktales, classical literature and themes from nature. An introduction will include an essay on the history, uses and the collecting of manju in which the techniques of carving will be described and materials will be discussed. Artists biographies, a glossary and bibliography will be included. The catalogue will accompany an exhibition of many of the pieces in this collection alongside woodblock prints from the Ashmolean Museum's collection which illustrate the same legends and subjects. This will take place in the Eastern Art Paintings Gallery.

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This Ashmolean Museum Set of 3 Mini Notebooks features a collection of three mini, foiled notebooks with alternating lined and blank pages. Each notebook has a different beautiful design: Cloisonné Casket with Flowers and Butterflies, Embroidered Hanging with Peacock and Cranes Cycads & Wisteria.With a sturdy cover and rounded corners, they are perfect to be carried everywhere! The Ashmolean is the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology, founded in 1683. This beautiful hanging was presented to the Ashmolean Museum in 1958 by Sir Herbert Ingram, who travelled to Japan on his honeymoon in 1908. In Japanese culture the crane represents good fortune and longevity and is known as ‘the bird of happiness’ – a fitting subject for a newly-married couple.

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Part of a series of exciting and luxurious Flame Tree Notebooks. Combining high-quality production with magnificent fine art, the covers are printed on foil in five colours, embossed then foil stamped. And they're powerfully practical: a pocket at the back for receipts and scraps, two bookmarks and a solid magnetic side flap. These are perfect for personal use and make a dazzling gift. Ashmolean Museum: Chinese Embroidered Hanging with Peacock. The peacock was emblematic not of glory but of compassion and care, and so it would appear to be in this intricate hanging. What we might expect to be its show-stealing splendour is almost upstaged by the pure-white peonies, lilies and roses all around. The eyes of its furled-up tail, though beautiful, blend into the background as though they were another flower.

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A companion volume to "Eat, Drink & Be Merry: Food & Drink in Greek and Roman Times", this book describes another aspect of life in those days. From the earliest times athletes competed in local city events, and successful athletes added to their country's respect in the eyes of the world.

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This catalogue describes what is probably the most encyclopaedic collection of early coloured Worcester porcelain in existence. Henry Marshall assembled the collection between the two World Wars. In the years that followed, he sought to represent as comprehensive a range of patterns as possible, with minimal duplication, so that his collection would become a true reference work in itself. Every piece was acquired for specific purpose, many of them either to further his knowledge or because they were so rare. He was one of a small group of ceramic collectors who sought to document sources and influences, creating comprehensive hypotheses for the objects' histories. In this case specifically, Marshall's records reveal the Far Eastern influence on Worcester porcelain, alongside the many other prototypes used by decorators of these fine ceramics. This catalogue, like the collection itself, seeks to present early Worcester porcelain to collectors and a wider public in a systematic way. It describes, classifies, and reproduces every item in the Marshall Collection. It does not seek to present detailed new research, but to record the state of knowledge about the subject at the time of writing.

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Illustrates the viols and the violins in the Ashmolean Museum, mainly from the (1939) gift of Arthur and Alfred Hill, the Hill Collection.

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A fully illustrated, comprehensive, and scholarly catalogue of the paintings in the Ashmolean Museum’s collection by French artists born between 1775 and 1875 The only complete catalogue of French paintings of the period in the Ashmolean Museum, this comprehensive and scholarly study explores their rich collection of nineteenth-century French art. Continuing a convention set by earlier Ashmolean catalogues that mirrors the concept of the long nineteenth century, the book defines nineteenth-century French artists as those born between 1775 and 1875. Stretching into the twentieth century, it covers a fascinating range of paintings including works by Louis-Léopold Boilly, Camille, Lucien, and Félix Pissarro, Henri Fantin-Latour, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, and Henri Matisse. The catalogue was compiled by the late distinguished art historian Jon Whiteley. In each entry, Whiteley draws upon his encyclopaedic knowledge of French art and the Ashmolean holdings. Provenance, literature, and exhibition history are recorded as well as extensive technical notes and information on frames. The entries on each work are accompanied by new, high-quality photography and comparative images, resulting in a complete and thorough documentation of this important part of the Ashmolean collection of Western art, providing an informative contribution to existing scholarship. Distributed for Modern Art Press

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John Ruskin assembled 1470 diverse works of art for use in the Drawing School he founded at Oxford in 1871. They included drawings by himself and other artists, prints and photographs. This book focuses on highlights of works produced by Ruskin himself. Drawings by John Ruskin are uniquely interesting. Unlike those of a professional artist they were not made in preparation for finished paintings or as works in their own right. Every one – and they number several thousand, depending on what can be considered a separate drawing – is a record of something seen, initially as a memorandum of that observation but with the potential to illustrate his writings or for educational purposes, notably to form part of the teaching collection of the Drawing School he established after election as Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University. In addition, because of the range of interests of arguably the only true polymath of his time, every drawing touches on some interesting aspect of art and architecture, landscape and travel, botany and natural history, often connected with his writings and lectures. Ruskin’s life is one of the best documented of any in the 19th century, through letters, diaries and the many autobiographical revelations in his published writings: this allows the opportunity to give almost any drawing a level of context impossible for any other artist. When there is so much background information, a single drawing reveals much about its creator, and becomes a window into the great sprawling edifice of his life and work.

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Soft Touch Journals, the new paperback notebook series from Flame Tree featuring a range of popular designs by artists and illustrators, are lightweight journals with the same high-quality production as our hardback journals. Our trademark blend of the practical and beautiful, with gold foiled page edges, gloss detailing on the tactile matt cover and lined pages, they're perfect for notes, creative writing, poetry, doodles and lists. Easy to slip into your bag, a pleasure to use. Simply, they feel good!Flame Tree: The Art of Fine Gifts.

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Part of an exciting series of sturdy, square-box 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles from Flame Tree, featuring powerful and popular works of art. This new jigsaw will satisfy your need for a challenge, with the charming Embroidered Hanging with Peacock. This 1000 piece jigsaw is intended for adults and children over 13 years. Not suitable for children under 3 years due to small parts. Finished Jigsaw size 735 x 510mm/29 x 20 ins. Now includes an A4 poster for reference.The peacock was emblematic not of glory but of compassion and care, and so it would appear to be in this intricate hanging. What we might expect to be its show-stealing splendour is almost upstaged by the pure-white peonies, lilies and roses all around. The eyes of its furled-up tail, though beautiful, blend into the background as though they were another flower.

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The Jewish Journey is unique in three respects. First, it is a short, accessible, affordable and illustrated history of the Jewish people. Most books of this kind are heavy, unwieldy, expensive coffee-table books. Secondly, the book is absolutely unique in highlighting Jewish objects from the standing collection of a world-renowned public museum. Jewish history is more normally confined to dedicated Jewish museums. This book breaks new ground by showing Jewish history in its wider historical, social and cultural context, and presents objects that reflect on daily life over the centuries, e.g. family, marriage, trade and travel, rather than the much more common depictions of artefacts for sacred and religious use. Thirdly, the Jewish significance of these particular 22 objects has until now been overlooked. This book draws them together for the first time to tell their specifically Jewish story, highlighting both the distinctive features of Jewish experience and the long history of close interaction with other cultures and religions. The 22 objects include pottery, coins, jewellery, household artefacts, sacred items, musical instruments and paintings.Together they bring to life the experiences of the real men and women who owned, made and used them, from kings, courtiers and scholars to guerrilla fighters, musicians and market stall holders. Individually and collectively, the objects vividly document dark periods of persecution and forced migration, whilst highlighting the astonishing resilience and diversity of Jewish life, revealing centuries of two-way interaction with many other cultures and religions. Through the histories of each of the objects, the reader is guided on a double journey. One path leads through the galleries of the Ashmolean; the other accompanies the Jewish people across the centuries. The Jewish Journey brings to light for the first time the amazing Jewish treasures in the Ashmolean Museum, explaining their specifically Jewish significance in a direct, accessible style for the general reader.

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Exquisite textiles from the world''s finest collection of art from the Ashmolean Museum. A fine new calendar from Flame Tree.The Ashmolean began when the wealthy antiquary Elias Ashmole (1617-92) gifted his collection to the University of Oxford in 1682. It was then combined with an older University collection that included Guy Fawkes’ lantern. Today, the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology houses Western Art, Eastern Art, Antiquities, Cast Gallery and the Coin Room. The beautiful textiles in this calendar are taken from the vast collection. Informative text accompanies each work and the datepad features previous and next month’s views. Printed on FSC-certified paper, with plastic-free packaging.

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Embroideries from the Greek islands dazzle with their bright colours and charming motifs. This publication reveals little-known pieces from the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford, newly photographed and published here for the first time. The embroideries include fragments of pillowcases, bed valances, tents and curtains, as well as items of dress. As with all collections of textiles, the story of the Ashmolean holdings is chiefly about their makers and their ingenuity. Once forming the bulk of bridal trousseaux, Greek embroidered textiles were produced and maintained by young and old women for themselves and the house using locally produced materials. A mark of their worth and a platform for self-expression, embroidered textiles also helped Greek women to negotiate their place in the community, signalling status and affiliation.

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Surimono poetry prints are among the finest examples of Japanese woodblock printmaking of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Consisting of witty poetry combined with related images, surimono were often designed by leading print artists and were exquisitely produced using the best materials and most sophisticated printing techniques. Unlike the ukiyo-e prints of actors, courtesans and landscapes that were being commercially published around the same time, surimono were never intended for sale to the general public. Instead they were privately published in limited editions by members of poetry clubs, to present to friends and acquaintances on festive occasions, especially at the New Year. This book introduces over forty surimono in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum and provides readers with an insight into the refined and cultivated Japanese literati culture of the early nineteenth century. As well as exploring the customs, legends, figures and objects depicted, it presents new translations of the humorous poems (kyoka) that lie at the heart of surimono, and highlights the intricate relationship that existed between the poetry and accompanying images. This will be the first time that the Ashmolean's collection of surimono, mostly from the Jennings-Spalding Gift and containing a number of rare and previously unpublished prints, has ever been catalogued.

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A special issue of "Eastern Art Report".

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This atmospheric calendar features 12 wood engravings from the collections at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. With artworks from Paul Nash, Thomas Edmund Chadwick and William Nicholson. Informative text accompanies each work and the datepad features previous and next monthâs views. Printed on FSC-certified paper.

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The Wellby Bequest, received by the Ashmolean Museum in 2013, consists of some 500 precious and exotic objects, mainly from Continental Europe, from the late medieval to the rococo, and is the most remarkable accession of this kind of material to any museum in the UK since the bequest of Ferdinand de Rothschild to the British Museum in 1898 (the Waddesdon Bequest). The collection was assembled by three generations of the Wellby family with an intention that it should reflect the great princely treasure chambers (Kunstkammer) preserved in Dresden, Vienna, Innsbruck, and elsewhere. Many of these objects have never been previously published. This beautiful and accessible book introduces over sixty of the prime pieces from this astonishing addition to the Ashmolean, presenting material of the type incomparably superior to anything in other UK museums outside London. Both authors are specialists in European decorative arts of the Renaissance and later periods.

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This book is the culmination of nearly thirty years' work in caring for, studying, and developing the collections in this Museum by Timothy Wilson, long-time Keeper of Western Art. Wilson is well-known as a specialist in the study of European Renaissance ceramics. The Ashmolean collections have their origins in the collection of C.D.E. Fortnum (1820-1899), but have been developed further in the last quarter-century, so that they can claim to be one of the top such collections of Renaissance ceramics worldwide. This book, containing 289 catalogue entries, will completely encompass the Museum's collection of postclassical Italian pottery, including pieces from excavations. In addition it will include catalogue entries for some seventy selected pieces of pottery from France, the Low Countries, England, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Mexico, in order to present a wide-ranging picture of the development of tin-glaze pottery from Islamic Spain through to recent times. It will also include an essay by Kelly Domoney of Cranfield University, and Elisabeth Gardner of the Ashmolean's Conservation Department, on the technical analysis and conservation history of some pieces in the collection.

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Fantastic Japanese art by Mizuno Toshikata from the Ashmolean Museum''s collection. A fine new art calendar from Flame Tree.With 12 exquisite prints by Japanese artist Mizuno Toshikata, this calendar showcases the detail found in Japanese art from the Ashmolean Museum’s incredible collections. Informative text accompanies each work and the datepad features previous and next month’s views. Printed on FSC-certified paper, with plastic-free packaging.

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Sold in packs of 6. Gorgeous, foiled, handmade greeting cards, blank inside and shrink-wrapped with a gold envelope. Themed with our art calendars, foiled notebooks and illustrated art books. Our greeting cards are printed on FSC paper and wrapped in biodegradable cellobag. The Ashmolean is the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology, founded in 1683. This beautiful hanging was presented to the Ashmolean Museum in 1958 by Sir Herbert Ingram, who travelled to Japan on his honeymoon in 1908. In Japanese culture the crane represents good fortune and longevity and is known as ‘the bird of happiness’ – a fitting subject for a newly-married couple.

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Soft Touch Journals, the new paperback notebook series from Flame Tree featuring a range of popular designs by artists and illustrators, are lightweight journals with the same high-quality production as our hardback journals. Our trademark blend of the practical and beautiful, with gold foiled page edges, gloss detailing on the tactile matt cover and lined pages, they're perfect for notes, creative writing, poetry, doodles and lists. Easy to slip into your bag, a pleasure to use. Simply, they feel good!Sir Herbert and Lady Ingram spent their honeymoon in Japan, where they collected hundreds of objects now in the Ashmolean's collection. The beautiful cloisonné casket, from which a detail features on this notebook, was bought in Kin'unken. It has a metal body, gold edges, and is made from cloisonné enamel.Flame Tree: The Art of Fine Gifts.

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The Ashmolean began when the wealthy antiquary Elias Ashmole (161792) gifted his collection to the University of Oxford in 1682. Today, the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology houses Western Art, Eastern Art, Antiquities, Cast Gallery and the Coin Room. The beautiful Camille Pissarro paintings in this calendar are taken from the collections and include works such as Sunset in Éragny, Autumn, View from my Window in Cloudy Weather and Farm at Montfoucault in Snow. Informative text accompanies each work and the datepad features previous and next month's views. Printed on FSC-certified paper, with plastic-free packaging.

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Sold in packs of 6. Gorgeous, foiled, handmade greeting cards, blank inside and shrink-wrapped with a gold envelope. Themed with our art calendars, foiled notebooks and illustrated art books. Our greeting cards are printed on FSC paper and wrapped in biodegradable cellobag. Sir Herbert and Lady Ingram spent their honeymoon in Japan, where they collected hundreds of objects now in the Ashmolean’s collection. This Cloisonné casket was bought in Kin’unken.

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A FLAME TREE NOTEBOOK. Beautiful and luxurious the journals combine high-quality production with magnificent art. Perfect as a gift, and an essential personal choice for writers, notetakers, travellers, students, poets and diarists. Features a wide range of well-known and modern artists, with new artworks published throughout the year. BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED. The highly crafted covers are printed on foil paper, embossed then foil stamped, complemented by the luxury binding and rose red end-papers. The covers are created by our artists and designers who spend many hours transforming original artwork into gorgeous 3d masterpieces that feel good in the hand, and look wonderful on a desk or table. PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE. Flame Tree Notebooks come with practical features too: a pocket at the back for scraps and receipts; two ribbon markers to help keep track of more than just a to-do list; robust ivory text paper, printed with lines; and when you need to collect other notes or scraps of paper the magnetic side flap keeps everything neat and tidy. THE ARTIST. Sir Herbert and Lady Ingram spent their honeymoon in Japan, where they collected hundreds of objects now in the Ashmolean’s collection. This Cloisonne casket was bought in Kin’unken. THE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

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This book is an edited record of the papers given at the two-day symposium ‘Italian Maiolica and Europe’ held in Oxford on 22 and 23 September 2017. It is, in effect, a celebration of his long service in the Ashmolean Museum as the Keeper of Western Art. Museum collections develop their great strengths in one of two ways: through gifts of private collections and through the knowledge and enthusiasm of curators. The Ashmolean’s renowned and important collection of Italian Maiolica owes its foundation to the former and the bequest of C.D.E. Fortnum. But it has grown and developed in remarkable ways over the last three decades thanks to the energy and expertise of Professor Timothy Wilson. During his 27 years as Keeper of Western Art, Tim was responsible for a truly extraordinary range and number of important acquisitions across the fine and decorative arts. As one of the world’s leading scholars of Italian Maiolica, it was only natural that he would continue to build on Fortnum’s legacy.

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This is the first companion guide ever to be written on the Ashmolean's outstanding Aegean collections, the best and most comprehensive outside Greece. Comprising 12,000 objects, the Ashmolean holds a remarkable collection of Neolithic and Cycladic antiquities, the best Minoan collection outside Crete, and a comprehensive corpus of Mycenaean antiquities. It is thanks to the indefatigable work of Sir Arthur Evans, and other great Aegean pioneers, such as Sir John Linton Myres and David Hogarth, that the Ashmolean, with its rich archival resources, stands out today as one of the most important museums for the study of Aegean archaeology. The companion guide, written by top scholars in the field, takes a chronological as well as thematic approach to the study of the Aegean collections. The texts, written with the wider audience in mind, introduce readers to the history of the collection and its current display strategy, Sir Arthur Evans and his work in Crete, the world of the early Cyclades, Knossos and Minoan Crete, Mycenaean Greece, and the Aegean seals and scripts that were central in Evans's archaeological research on the island. The companion guide is beautifully designed and richly illustrated throughout. Images of the gallery, of individual objects and group shots, maps, plans, and timelines, provide the reader with the feel of the Aegean World gallery, which since its opening in 2009 has been enthusiastically received. The book follows the strategy developed specifically for the Aegean World gallery at the Ashmolean Museum: 'how we know what we know?' about Aegean prehistory, and the role of archaeologists as filters through whom our knowledge of the past is diluted and shaped. The guide also includes about 80 highlighted objects, which are accompanied with new photographs - specifically taken for this publication, a brief description and bibliography. The companion guide is published in collaboration with the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.

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In 2019 Ali Kazim, one of the most exciting contemporary artists working in Pakistan today, became the first South Asian artist-in-residence at the Ashmolean Museum. Drawing inspiration from the objects in the Eastern Art collections, and their contextual history, he saw his time in the Museum as an opportunity to reimagine the objects in his own work and practise. Thus, the exhibition and accompanying catalogue will focus mainly on Kazim’s engagement with the Ashmolean collections and the works created between 2019 and 2021. Widely exhibited and collected internationally (including the British Museum, V&A, Metropolitan Museum, Queensland Art Gallery, etc.), Kazim lives and works in Pakistan. The exhibition and book provide the Museum an opportunity to engage wider diverse audiences, while also presenting the works of a contemporary multidisciplinary artist who reflects and draws strength from the Ashmolean collections.

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The Ashmolean Museum houses one of the most extensive collections of wood engravings in the world. The collection effectively began with the gift in 1964, by Arthur Mitchell, of over 3,000 prints, including a large group of wood engravings. During the 1980s and 1990s, it expanded remarkably with acquisitions of large groups of prints, often as gifts from the artists, resulted in a succession of monographic exhibitions on some of the most important wood engravers. They included John Farleigh (1986), John Buckland Wright (1990), Clare Leighton (1992), Monica Poole (1993) and Anne Desmet (1998). A key point in this period of expansion was the acquisition of a comprehensive body of work by Gertrude Hermes and Blair Hughes-Stanton in 1995 from the artists’ family, which resulted in a memorable exhibition organised by Katharine Eustace. More recently, the Ashmolean has formed a close partnership with the SWE, and has been keeping the collection up to date by acquiring work by members, both at the Society’s annual exhibition and privately.

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In October 2015, metal detectorist James Mather discovered an important Viking hoard near Watlington in South Oxfordshire. The hoard dates from the end of the 870s, a key moment in the struggle between Anglo-Saxons and Vikings for control of southern England. The Watlington hoard is a significant new source of information on that struggle, throwing new light not only on the conflict between Anglo-Saxon and Viking, but also on the changing relationship between the two great Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex. This was to lead to the formation of a single united kingdom of England only a few years later. The hoard contains a mixture of Anglo-Saxon coins and Viking silver, and is in many ways a typical Viking hoard. However, its significance comes from the fact that it contains so many examples of previously rare coins belonging to Alfred the Great, king of Wessex (871-99) and his less well-known contemporary Ceolwulf II of Mercia (874-c.879). These coins provide a clearer understanding of the relationship between Alfred and Ceolwulf, and perhaps also of how the once great kingdom of Mercia came to be absorbed into the emerging kingdom of England by Alfred and his successors. A major fundraising campaign is being planned by the Ashmolean to secure this collection for the museum.

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Religion has always been a fundamental force for constructing identity, from antiquity to the contemporary world. The transformation of ancient cults into faith systems, which we recognise now as major world religions, took place in the first millennium AD, in the period we call 'Late Antiquity'. Our argument is that the creative impetus for both the emergence, and much of the visual distinctiveness of the world religions came in contexts of cultural encounter. Bridging the traditional divide between classical, Asian, Islamic and Western history, this exhibition and its accompanying catalogue highlights religious and artistic creativity at points of contact and cultural borders between late antique civilisations. This catalogue features the creation of specific visual languages that belong to five major world religions: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. The imagery still used by these belief systems today is evidence for the development of distinct religious identities in Late Antiquity. Emblematic visual forms like the figure of Buddha and Christ, or Islamic aniconism, only evolved in dialogue with a variety of coexisting visualisations of the sacred. As late antique believers appropriated some competing models and rejected others, they created compelling and long-lived representations of faith, but also revealed their indebtedness to a multitude of contemporaneous religious ideas and images.

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Interviewing nearly 30 of the Aldermaston potters, many of whom have written some fascinating submissions about this incredible workshop. The book features a wonderful, previously unpublished, account from Geoffrey Eastop's memoirs, about how he came to Aldermaston and helped to establish the pottery with Alan Caiger-Smith in the mid 1950s. The book tells the story of the 51 years of the Aldermaston Pottery, through the words and experiences of as many of the potters as possible, whilst also chronicling Alan's own achievements over the decades. The images also play an important part in telling the story. The book also follows the subsequent careers of the potters, and tell how they went on to make a difference, and to sustain the maiolica tradition, all over the world. As there has never been a book published that has traced the career of this important figure or the life of the pottery, or the 60 people who worked and trained there, and there are very few photographic records of this lost way of working, this book will fill that gap in the history of 20th century studio pottery.

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Worcester Porcelain illustrates in colour a selection of items from the Henry Rissik Marshall Collection of 'First Period' Worcester Porcelain (1751-83), given to the Ashmolean Museum in 1957. The pieces show all the major changes in shape and decoration during the period and include examples that are both rare and important.

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The Ashmolean Museum is fortunate in having the most comprehensive British collection of the art of the Indian subcontinent outside London. Especially strong in sculpture, this rich representation of Indian art from prehistory to the twentieth century has come about through the generosity of our benefactors over more than three centuries. The Museum's first major Indian sculpture acquisition, a stone Pala-style Vishnu image of the eleventh century, was given in 1686 by Sir William Hedges, a governor of the East India Company in Bengal. From the late nineteenth century, a substantial core of the present collection was assembled at the University's former Indian Institute Museum (1897-1962), precursor of the Department of Eastern Art, which opened within the Ashmolean in 1963. Since that date many more Indian objects of all periods have been acquired by gift, bequest or purchase.

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The Ashmolean Museum and the Albertina are collaborating on a two-part exhibition project that will examine anew the role and the significance of drawing in Raphael's career. The Ashmolean holds the greatest collection of Raphael drawings in the world, and the Albertina is the custodian of a major collection including some of the most beautiful and important of the artist's sketches. Taken together, the two collections provide extraordinary resources that, amplified by carefully-selected international loans, will allow us to transform our understanding of the art of Raphael. The Oxford exhibition is based on new research by Dr Catherine Whistler of the Ashmolean Museum and Dr Ben Thomas from the University of Kent, in collaboration with Dr Achim Gnann of the Albertina. It will take Raphael's art of drawing as its focus, with the concept of eloquence as its underlying structure. Oratory runs as a linking thread in Raphael's drawings, which stand out for the importance given to the study of gestures, facial expressions, and drapery.Moreover, Raphael treated the expressive figure of the orator - poet, philosopher, muse, apostle, saint or sibyl - in fascinating and significant ways throughout his life. This selection of drawings demonstrates how Raphael created a specific mode of visual invention and persuasive communication through drawing. He used drawing both as conceptual art (including brainstorming sheets) and as a practice based on attentive observation (such as drawing from the posed model). Yet Raphael's drawings also reveal how the process of drawing in itself, with its gestural rhythms and spontaneity, can be a form of thought, generating new ideas. The Oxford exhibition will present drawings that span Raphael's entire career, encompassing many of his major projects and exploring his visual language from inventive ideas to full compositions. The extraordinary range of drawings by Raphael in the Ashmolean and the Albertina, enhanced by appropriate loans, will enable this exhibition to cast new light on this familiar artist, transforming our understanding of Raphael's art.

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Weimin He's 324 ink drawings, pen sketches and woodblock prints comprise an intimate record of the progress of construction in the newly designed Ashmolean Museum that opened late last year. An unusual approach to documentation in the age of digital photography, the catalogue provides a delightful art experience for readers who will never set foot in the Ashmolean, which is the museum for the University of Oxford. Weimin has drawn workers lifting roof beams, welding metal rods and pouring cement into the mixer. He gives us behind-the-scenes portraits of museum personnel, making each individual come alive, for example, an objects conservator at her work and a researcher in the prints room at his. An artist-in-residence at the museum and an art scholar, Weimin employed Chinese drawing and woodblock printmaking methods. His portraits were drawn on pi, xuan papers or album leaves, with Chinese brushes and inks that have been used for over a millennium. Seven of the prints and the catalogue were presented to Queen Elizabeth for the museum's opening.

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The Wilshere Collection offers a remarkable insight into one Englishman's enthusiasm for the early Christian church. A wealthy landowner travelling frequently to Italy, Charles Wilshere (1814-1906) saw it as his mission to acquaint the British with the then brand-new subject of early Christian archaeology and art. Newly discovered documentation, including correspondence held at the Vatican Library and the Biblioteca San Luigi, Posilippo, recount Wilshere's acquisition of a remarkable collection of early Christian, Jewish and pagan gold-glass, sarcophagi and inscriptions, shipped to England for public display. Previously unpublished evidence presents the reader with intriguing new information about the provenance of the collection. In addition to this, recent scientific analysis of the objects, now in the collections of the Ashmolean Museum, allows major new insights, notably into the origin of gold-glass and its use in fourth-century Rome.

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Hodgkin collection here for the first time both in its entirety and in its full maturity, after a lifetime's constant improvement and refinement. Many of the works shown are recent acquisitions by Hodgkin which have never been exhibited previously. Renowned British painter and printmaker Howard Hodgkin, also an art collector, is one of the great aesthetes of the age, say critics. The celebrated artist's full collection of great Mughal art is being presented for the first time at the Ashmolean Museum in an exhibition running from early February to mid-April 2011. The catalogue includes over 110 Indian paintings and drawings from these remarkable private works that Hodgkin began acquiring whilst a school boy. "You need things to look at, things to affect your feelings, and your intelligence, and your heart" the artist has said. Many paintings shown are recent purchases never before exhibited revealing how Hodgkin has constantly refined the collection over the years. The collection comprises most of the main types of Indian court painting that flourished during the Mughal period (c.1 550-1850), including the elegant naturalistic works of the imperial Mughal court, the poetic and subtly coloured paintings of the Deccani Sultanates, the boldly drawn and vibrantly coloured styles of the Rajput kingdoms of Rajasthan and the Punjab Hills. Hodgkin's own art is collected worldwide in museums as diverse as the Tate and the Phillips Collection and Yale Center for British Art in America. Named by England's Queen Elizabeth II as a Companion of Honor (2003), his unique works hold glimpses of incandescent impressions of Turner; the emotional explosiveness of Van Gogh, the colder abstractions of Pollock and De Kooning and the late canvases of Kline. Hodgkin once said his collecting had affected him as an artist but "Not in the way people think", that collecting had made him "Very aware of quality, and increasingly demanding of my own work."

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The 10th in the "Ashmolean Handbooks" series, this title illustrates sections of paintings, drawings and objects, which are well represented in the Museum. They are designed to provide an introduction for the general reader and a useful guide for the expert.

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