1.
Kakiemon
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The style shares much in common with the Chinese Famille Verte style. The superb quality of its decoration was highly prized in the West, the potter Sakaida Kakiemon is popularly credited with being one of the first in Japan to discover the secret of enamel decoration on porcelain, known as akae. Kakiemon is sometimes used as a term describing wares made in the Arita factories using the characteristic Kakiemon overglaze enamels. However, authentic Kakiemon porcelains have been produced by direct descendants, shards from the Kakiemon kiln site at Nangawara show that blue and white and celadon wares were also produced. Kakiemon decoration is usually of high quality, delicate and with asymmetric well-balanced designs and these were sparsely applied to emphasize the fine white porcelain background body known in Japan as nigoshide which was used for the finest pieces. In this period, Sakaida Kakiemon produced normal akae wares, Sakaida Kakiemon XII and XIII attempted to reproduce nigoshide and succeeded in 1953. It has continued to be produced since then, the Kakiemon porcelain was imported into Europe via the Dutch East India Company, and beginning in the 1580s, through a variety of other avenues. Augustus the Strong of Saxony and Mary II of England both owned examples, the earliest inventory to include Japanese porcelain in Europe was made at Burghley House in 1688, these included a standing elephant with its trunk raised and a model of two wrestlers. Wares included bowls, dishes and plates, often hexagonal, octagonal or fluted with scalloped edges, the famed white nigoshide body was only used with open forms, and not for closed shapes such as vases, bottles and teapots, or for figures and animals. The hexagonal Kamiemon vases and covers known as Hampton Court vases were named after a pair at Hampton Court Palace, London, around 1730, this shape was copied at Meissen, Germany, which entered into a sister city contract with Arita, in 1979. The style was adopted and copied in Chelsea and Worcester in the 1750s. The Kakiemon porcelain proved an influence on the new porcelain factories of 18th-century Europe. Meissen copies could be close to the originals, alternatively, the factory painters sometimes just borrowed designs. Kakiemon style was adapted in Germany and Austria by the Du Paquier and Vienna factories and in France at Chantilly, Mennecy. Kakiemon was also an influence on Dutch Delft pottery and Chinese export porcelain, Sakaida Kakiemon, The 1st Kakiemon Sakaida Kakiemon XII Sakaida Kakiemon XIV, who was a Living National Treasure in Japan. Imari porcelain Japanese pottery Korean pottery Chinese porcelain Pottery Intangible Cultural Properties of Japan Takeshi, Japanese ceramics from the Tanakamaru collection. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
2.
Arita ware
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Arita ware is a broad term for Japanese porcelain made in the area around the town of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū. According to tradition, the Korean potter Yi Sam-pyeong, or Kanagae Sanbee, is considered the father of Arita ware porcelain. This narrative is however disputed by many historians and he is nevertheless honoured in Sueyama Shrine as the founder. The first porcelain made in Japan followed the discovery of clay near Arita near the end of the 16th century. A number of opened up in the area, and a considerable variety of styles were made. Early wares used underglaze blue decoration, but by the mid-17th century Arita was in the forefront as Japan developed overglaze enamelled decoration in a range of bright colours, the type called kin-rande was especially popular and is therefore known in the West also as Imari ware. Nabeshima ware developed out of Arita, which was of a quality produced for the Nabeshima Lords of the Saga Domain. Kakiemon is a style of porcelain that developed out of Arita, the kilns in Arita also produced white Hakuji porcelain. Ford, Barbara Brennan, and Oliver R, the Great Japan Exhibition, Art of the Edo Period 1600–1868,1981, Royal Academy of Arts/Wiedenfield and Nicolson Media related to Arita ware at Wikimedia Commons
3.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
4.
Hard-paste porcelain
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Hard-paste porcelain is a ceramic material that was originally made from a compound of the feldspathic rock petuntse and kaolin fired at very high temperature, usually around 1400°C. It was first made in China around the 7th or 8th century, from the Middle Ages onwards it was very widely exported and admired by other cultures, and fetched huge prices on foreign markets. This soon led to a production in factories across Europe by the end of the 18th century. Chinese porcelain began to be exported to Europe by the Portuguese and later by the Dutch from the middle of the 16th century, in 1712, the French Jesuit François Xavier dEntrecolles described the Chinese process of manufacturing porcelain in his letters to Europe. In 1771, the comte de Milly published Lart de la porcelaine, hard-paste, or just hard porcelain, now chiefly refers to formulations prepared from mixtures of kaolin, feldspar and quartz. Other raw materials can also be used and these include pottery stones, hard-paste porcelain is now differentiated from soft-paste porcelain mainly by the firing temperature, with the former being higher, to around 1400°C, and the latter to around 1200°C. Depending on the raw materials and firing methods used, hard-paste porcelain can also resemble stoneware or earthenware, hard-paste porcelain can also be used for bisque porcelain. It is a translucent and bright, white ceramic, as it is almost impermeable to water, it is unnecessary to glaze the body. Manufactures include Lladro, Hummel and Royal Worcester
5.
Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus
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Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus was a German mathematician, physicist, physician, and philosopher. Von Tschirnhaus was born in Kieslingswalde and died in Dresden, Saxony, Von Tschirnhaus attended the Gymnasium at Görlitz. Thereafter he studied mathematics, philosophy, and medicine at the University of Leiden and he traveled considerably in France, Italy, and Switzerland, and served in the army of Holland. During his travels he met Baruch de Spinoza and Christiaan Huygens in the Netherlands, Isaac Newton in England and he became a member of the Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris. The Tschirnhaus transformation, by which he removed certain intermediate terms from an algebraic equation, is well known. It was published in the scientific journal Acta Eruditorum in 1683, in 1682, Von Tschirnhaus worked out the theory of catacaustics and showed that they were rectifiable. This was the case in which the envelope of a moving line was determined. One of the catacaustics of a still is known as Tschirnhausen cubic. In 1696, Johann Bernoulli posed the problem of the brachystochrone to the readers of Acta Eruditorum, Tschirnhaus was one of only five mathematicians to submit a solution. Bernoulli published these contributions along with his own in the journal in May of the following year, Von Tschirnhaus produced various types of lenses and mirrors, some of them are displayed in museums. He erected a glass works in Saxony, where he constructed burning glasses of unusual perfection. His work Medicina mentis sive artis inveniendi praecepta generali combines methods of deduction with empiricism, Tschirnhaus was for many years forgotten as a philosopher and the studies treating the subject often discuss Tschirnhaus connection to other philosophers and scientists at the time. During his time at the University of Leiden he started correspondence with Spinoza, Tschirnhaus was one of the first to get a copy of Spinozas masterpiece Ethics. As early as 1704, he showed “porcelan” to Leibniz’s secretary and he proposed the establishment of a porcelain factory to Augustus II of Poland, Elector of Saxony, but was denied. Also in 1704, Von Tschirnhaus became the supervisor of Johann Friedrich Böttger, Böttger only reluctantly and under pressure started to participate in Tschirnhaus’s work by 1707. The use of kaolin and alabaster advanced the work, so that August II named him the director of the factory he intended to establish. The Elector ordered payment of 2,561 thalers to Von Tschirnhaus, when Von Tschirnhaus died suddenly, on 11 October 1708, the project came to a halt. Three days after Von Tschirnhaus’s death, there was a burglary at his house and, according to a report by Böttger, a small piece of porcelain was stolen
6.
Meissen
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Meissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about 25 km northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral, the Große Kreisstadt is the capital of the Meissen district. German, Meißen, Meissen French, Misnie Latin, Misnia, Misena, Misnensium Polish, Miśnia Czech, Míšeň Upper Sorbian, Mišno Lower Sorbian, in 968, the Diocese of Meissen was founded, and Meissen became the episcopal see of a bishop. The Margraviate of Meissen was founded in 968 as well, with the city as the capital of the Margraves of Meissen. A market town by 1000, Meissen passed to the Duchy of Poland in 1002 under Boleslaw I the Brave, afterwards into hands of Henry II a few months later, in 1015 Meissen was besieged by the Poles led by future King Mieszko II. The city was at the forefront of the Ostsiedlung, or intensive German settlement of the rural Slavic lands east of the Elbe, the construction of Meissen Cathedral was begun in 1260 on the same hill as the Albrechtsburg castle. The resulting lack of space led to the cathedral being one of the smallest cathedrals in Europe, the church is also known as being one of the purest examples of Gothic architecture. In 1423 Meissen became capital of the Electorate of Saxony, in 1464 the capital was moved to Dresden. In 1759 the Austrians defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Meissen, during World War II, a subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp was located in Meissen. Meissen is famous for the manufacture of porcelain, based on local deposits of china clay. Meissen porcelain was the first high-quality porcelain to be produced outside of the Orient, the first European porcelain was manufactured in Meissen in 1710, when by decree of King Augustus II the Strong the Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Porcelain Factory was opened in the Albrechtsburg. In 1861, it was moved to the Triebisch river valley of Meissen, along with porcelain, other ceramics are also manufactured. The Albrechtsburg, the residence of the House of Wettin, is regarded as being the first castle to be used as a royal residence in the German-speaking world. Built between 1472 and 1525, it is an example of late Gothic style. It was redecorated in the 19th century with a range of murals depicting Saxon history, today the castle is a museum. Nearby is the 13th-century Gothic Meissen Cathedral, whose chapel is one of the most famous places of the Wettin family. The hill on which the castle and the cathedral are built offers a view over the roofs of the old town, meissens historical district is located mostly around the market at the foot of the castle hill. It contains many buildings of Renaissance architecture, also imposing is the view from the 57 metre high tower of the Frauenkirche, situated in the old market-place
7.
Dresden
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Dresden is the capital city and, after Leipzig, the second-largest city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the border with the Czech Republic, Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its baroque, the controversial American and British bombing of Dresden in World War II towards the end of the war killed approximately 25,000, many of whom were civilians, and destroyed the entire city centre. After the war restoration work has helped to reconstruct parts of the inner city, including the Katholische Hofkirche, the Zwinger. Since German reunification in 1990 Dresden is again a cultural, educational and political centre of Germany, the Dresden University of Technology is one of the 10 largest universities in Germany and part of the German Universities Excellence Initiative. The economy of Dresden and its agglomeration is one of the most dynamic in Germany and it is dominated by high-tech branches, often called as “Silicon Saxony”. The city is one of the most visited in Germany with 4,3 million overnight stays per year. The royal buildings are among the most impressive buildings in Europe, main sights are also the nearby National Park of Saxon Switzerland, the Ore Mountains and the countryside around Elbe Valley and Moritzburg Castle. The most prominent building in the city of Dresden is the Frauenkirche, built in the 18th century, the church was destroyed during World War II. The remaining ruins were left for 50 years as a war memorial, the church was rebuilt from 1994 to 2005. Although Dresden is a relatively recent city of Germanic origin followed by settlement of Slavic people, Dresdens founding and early growth is associated with the eastward expansion of Germanic peoples, mining in the nearby Ore Mountains, and the establishment of the Margraviate of Meissen. Its name etymologically derives from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the forest, Dresden later evolved into the capital of Saxony. Around the late 12th century, a Slavic settlement called Drežďany had developed on the southern bank, another settlement existed on the northern bank, but its Slavic name is unknown. It was known as Antiqua Dresdin by 1350, and later as Altendresden, dietrich, Margrave of Meissen, chose Dresden as his interim residence in 1206, as documented in a record calling the place Civitas Dresdene. After 1270, Dresden became the capital of the margraviate and it was given to Friedrich Clem after death of Henry the Illustrious in 1288. It was taken by the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1316 and was restored to the Wettin dynasty after the death of Valdemar the Great in 1319, from 1485, it was the seat of the dukes of Saxony, and from 1547 the electors as well. The Elector and ruler of Saxony Frederick Augustus I became King Augustus II the Strong of Poland in personal union and he gathered many of the best musicians, architects and painters from all over Europe to the newly named Royal-Polish Residential City of Dresden. His reign marked the beginning of Dresdens emergence as a leading European city for technology, during the reign of Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland the Zwinger Royal Palace, the Hofkirche and the Frauenkirche were built
8.
Logo
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A logo is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations, and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition. There are purely graphic emblems, symbols, icons and logos, in the days of hot metal typesetting, a logotype was one word cast as a single piece of type. By extension, the term was used for a uniquely set. At the level of communication and in common usage, a companys logo is today often synonymous with its trademark or brand. The arts were expanding in purpose—from expression and decoration of an artistic, storytelling nature, to a differentiation of brands, consultancies and trades-groups in the commercial arts were growing and organizing, by 1890, the US had 700 lithographic printing firms employing more than 8,000 people. Artistic credit tended to be assigned to the company, as opposed to the individual artists who usually performed less important jobs. Playful children’s books, authoritative newspapers, and conversational periodicals developed their own visual and editorial styles for unique, as printing costs decreased, literacy rates increased, and visual styles changed, the Victorian decorative arts led to an expansion of typographic styles and methods of representing businesses. A renewal of interest in craftsmanship and quality also provided the artists and companies with a greater interest in credit, leading to the creation of unique logos and marks. By the 1950s, Modernism had shed its roots as an artistic movement in Europe to become an international, commercialized movement with adherents in the United States. Modernist-inspired logos proved successful in the era of mass visual communication ushered in by television, improvements in printing technology, the current era of logo design began in the 1870s with the first abstract logo, the Bass red triangle. As of 2014, many corporations, products, brands, services, agencies, as a result, only a few of the thousands of ideograms in circulation are recognizable without a name. Ideograms and symbols may be effective than written names, especially for logos translated into many alphabets in increasingly globalized markets. For instance, a written in Arabic script might have little resonance in most European markets. By contrast, ideograms keep the general nature of a product in both markets. In non-profit areas, the Red Cross exemplifies a well-known emblem that does not need an accompanying name, the red cross and red crescent are among the best-recognized symbols in the world. National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and their Federation as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross include these symbols in their logos, branding can aim to facilitate cross-language marketing. Consumers and potential consumers can identify the Coca-Cola name written in different alphabets because of the standard color, the text was written in Spencerian Script, which was a popular writing style when the Coca Cola Logo was being designed. Since a logo is the visual entity signifying an organization, logo design is an important area of graphic design, a logo is the central element of a complex identification system that must be functionally extended to all communications of an organization
9.
Trademark
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The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, for the sake of corporate identity, trademarks are often displayed on company buildings. A trademark identifies the owner of a particular product or service. The unauthorized usage of trademarks by producing and trading counterfeit consumer goods is known as brand piracy, the owner of a trademark may pursue legal action against trademark infringement. Most countries require formal registration of a trademark as a precondition for pursuing this type of action, the United States, Canada and other countries also recognize common law trademark rights, which means action can be taken to protect an unregistered trademark if it is in use. Still, common law trademarks offer the holder in general less legal protection than registered trademarks. A trademark may be designated by the symbols, ™ ℠ ® A trademark is typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image. There is also a range of non-conventional trademarks comprising marks which do not fall into these categories, such as those based on colour, smell. Trademarks which are considered offensive are often rejected according to a nations trademark law, the term trademark is also used informally to refer to any distinguishing attribute by which an individual is readily identified, such as the well-known characteristics of celebrities. When a trademark is used in relation to services rather than products, it may sometimes be called a service mark, in other words, trademarks serve to identify a particular business as the source of goods or services. The use of a trademark in this way is known as trademark use, certain exclusive rights attach to a registered mark. Different goods and services have been classified by the International Classification of Goods, in trademark treatises it is usually reported that blacksmiths who made swords in the Roman Empire are thought of as being the first users of trademarks. Other notable trademarks that have used for a long time include Löwenbräu. The first trademark legislation was passed by the Parliament of England under the reign of King Henry III in 1266, the first modern trademark laws emerged in the late 19th century. In France the first comprehensive system in the world was passed into law in 1857 with the Manufacture. In Britain, the Merchandise Marks Act 1862 made it an offense to imitate anothers trade mark with intent to defraud or to enable another to defraud. In 1875 the Trade Marks Registration Act was passed which allowed formal registration of marks at the UK Patent Office for the first time. Registration was considered to comprise prima facie evidence of ownership of a trade mark, in the United States, Congress first attempted to establish a federal trademark regime in 1870
10.
Chinese ceramics
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Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era, Porcelain is so identified with China that it is still called china in everyday English usage. Most later Chinese ceramics, even of the finest quality, were made on an industrial scale, many of the most important kiln workshops were owned by or reserved for the Emperor, and large quantities of ceramics were exported as diplomatic gifts or for trade from an early date. The earliest Chinese pottery was earthenware, which continued in production for utilitarian uses throughout Chinese history, but was increasingly less used for fine wares. Porcelain, on a Western definition, is a term comprising all ceramic ware that is white and translucent. The Chinese tradition recognizes two categories of ceramics, high-fired and low-fired, so doing without stoneware, which in Chinese tradition is mostly grouped with porcelain. Terms such as porcellaneous or near-porcelain may be used for stonewares with porcelain-like characteristics, the Erya defined porcelain as fine, compact pottery. Chinese pottery can also classified as being either northern or southern, the kiln types were also different. Southern materials have high silica, low alumina and high potassium oxide, the northern materials are often very suitable for stoneware, while in the south there are also areas highly suitable for porcelain. Chinese porcelain is made by a combination of the following materials. Porcelain stone - decomposed micaceous or feldspar rocks, historically known as petunse. Feldspar Quartz In the context of Chinese ceramics, the term lacks a universally accepted definition. This in turn has led to confusion about when the first Chinese porcelain was made, claims have been made for the late Eastern Han dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period, the Six Dynasties period, and the Tang dynasty. Chinese kiln technology has always been a key factor in the development of Chinese pottery, the Chinese developed effective kilns capable of firing at around 1, 000°C before 2000 BC. These were updraft kilns, often built below ground, two main types of kiln were developed by about 200 AD and remained in use until modern times. Both could reliably produce the temperatures of up to 1300°C or more needed for porcelain, in the late Ming, the egg-shaped kiln or zhenyao was developed at Jingdezhen, but mainly used there. This was something of a compromise between the types, and offered locations in the firing chamber with a range of firing conditions. According to Science, pottery dating from 20,000 years ago were found at the Xianrendong Cave site
11.
Economic history of China before 1912
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The economic history of China covers thousands of years and the region has undergone alternating cycles of prosperity and decline. China had, for most of the last two millennia, the worlds largest and most advanced economies, Neolithic agriculture had developed in China by roughly 8,000 BCE. Stratified bronze-age cultures, such as Erlitou, emerged by the third millennium BCE, under the Shang and Western Zhou, a dependent labor force worked in large-scale foundries and workshops to produce bronzes and silk for the elite. The agricultural surpluses produced by the economy supported these early handicraft industries as well as urban centers. This system began to disintegrate after the collapse of the Western Zhou in 771 BCE, leaving China fragmented during the Spring and Autumn, as the feudal system collapsed, most legislative power transferred from the nobility to local kings. Increased trade during the Warring States period produced a stronger merchant class, the new kings established an elaborate bureaucracy, using it to wage wars, build large temples, and enact public-works projects. This meritocratic system rewarded talent over birthright, greater use of iron tools revolutionized agriculture and led to a large population increase during this period. Although their initial implementation led to its overthrow in 206 BCE, during the Han Dynasty, China became a strong, unified, and centralized empire of self-sufficient farmers and artisans, with limited local autonomy. The Song period brought additional economic reforms, paper money, the compass, and other technological advances facilitated communication on a large scale and the widespread circulation of books. The states control of the diminished, allowing private merchants to prosper. The economy was remonetised by Japanese and South American silver brought through foreign trade, by Neolithic times, the tribes living in what is now the Yellow River valley were practising agriculture. By the third millennium BCE, stratified bronze-age societies had emerged, the Erlitou dominated northern China and are identified with the Xia dynasty, the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. Erlitou was followed by the Shang and Zhou dynasties, which developed a manorial economy similar to that of medieval Western Europe. By the end of the Spring and Autumn period, this began to collapse and was replaced by a prosperous economy of self-sufficient farmers. This transformation was completed when the state of Qin unified China in 221 BCE, agriculture began almost 10,000 years ago in several regions of modern-day China. The earliest domesticated crops were millet in the north and rice in the south, some Neolithic cultures produced textiles with hand-operated spindle-whorls as early as 5000 BCE. The earliest discovered silk remains date to the third millennium BCE. By Northern Chinas Longshan culture, a number of communities with stratified social structures had emerged
12.
Dutch East India Company
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It is often considered to be the worlds first truly transnational corporation and the first company in history to actually issue bonds and shares of stock to the general public. In other words, the VOC was officially the first publicly traded company of the world, the company was also considered by many to be the very first major and the greatest corporation in history. Statistically, the VOC eclipsed all of its rivals in international trade for almost 200 years of existence. Between 1602 and 1796 the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, the VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly through most of the 17th century. Having been set up in 1602, to profit from the Malukan spice trade, in 1619 the VOC established a capital in the city of Jayakarta. Over the next two centuries the Company acquired additional ports as trading bases and safeguarded their interests by taking over surrounding territory and it remained an important trading concern and paid an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years. Around the world and especially in English-speaking countries, the VOC is widely known as the Dutch East India Company, the name ‘Dutch East India Company’ is used to make a distinction with the East India Company and other East Indian companies. The abbreviation VOC stands for Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie in Dutch, the VOC monogram was possibly the first globally-recognized corporate logo. The logo of the VOC consisted of a large capital V with an O on the left and it appeared on various corporate items, such as cannon and coins. The first letter of the hometown of the conducting the operation was placed on top. An Australian vintner has used the VOC logo since the late 20th century, the flag of the company was orange, white, and blue, with the company logo embroidered on it. Before the Dutch Revolt, Antwerp had played an important role as a centre in northern Europe. At the same time, the Portuguese trade system was unable to supply to satisfy growing demand. Demand for spices was relatively inelastic, and therefore each lag in the supply of pepper caused a rise in pepper prices. These three factors motivated Dutch merchants to enter the spice trade themselves. Further, a number of Dutchmen like Jan Huyghen van Linschoten and Cornelis de Houtman obtained first hand knowledge of the secret Portuguese trade routes and practices, thereby providing opportunity. The stage was set for Houtmans 1595 four-ship exploratory expedition to Banten, the main pepper port of West Java. Houtmans expedition then sailed east along the north coast of Java, losing twelve crew to a Javanese attack at Sidayu, half the crew were lost before the expedition made it back to the Netherlands the following year, but with enough spices to make a considerable profit
13.
Medici porcelain
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Medici porcelain was the first successful attempt in Europe to make imitations of Chinese porcelain. The experimental manufactory housed in the Casino of San Marco in Florence existed between 1575 and 1587 under the patronage of Francesco I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. A painted mark of Brunelleschis dome and a capital letter F appear on the underside of pieces, others bear the Medici palle. Never a commercial venture, Medici porcelains were sometimes given as gifts, for example. Giorgio Vasari reported in the 1568 edition of his Vite that Bernardo Buontalenti was currently at work on discovering the art of porcelain, there are no references to Medici porcelain manufacture securely dated after Francescos death in 1587. The body of Medici porcelain ware is a type of porcelain, composed of white clay containing powdered feldspar, calcium phosphate and wollastonite. The glaze contains calcium phosphate, indicating that the technique of using calcined bone to make an opaque white glaze was adopted. The result is translucent but slightly glassy in feel, following the precedents of classic Chinese blue and white porcelain, decorations were painted in underglaze blue, which resulted in a range of hues when fired—from a bright cobalt blue to grey. Some pieces have outlines traced in manganese, body shapes are adapted from maiolica ceramics and silver models, they range from the largest basins and ewers, chargers and plates, to the smallest cruets. Decorative motifs are executed in imitation of Chinese blue-and-white wares, or of Turkish İznik ceramics, when Francesco died, his younger brother Cardinal Ferdinando de Medici inherited the position of Grand Duke. Ferdinando brought his prized Chinese and Medici porcelains back with him to Florence from the Villa Medici in Rome, along with his paintings, in 1772 an auction in the Palazzo Vecchio of objects from storage dispersed the Medici porcelains conserved in Tuscany. The venture disappeared from history until interest revived after the mid-nineteenth century, the 1588 inventory drawn up after Francescos death listed 310 pieces. Today only some sixty or seventy pieces are known to survive, the next successful European attempt to make soft-paste porcelain would come from the Rouen manufactory in France, in 1673. G. Cora and A. Fanfani, La porcellana dei Medici 1986, giuseppe Liverani, Catalogo delle porcellane dei Medici, in series Piccola Biblioteca del Museo delle Ceramiche in Faenza, II1936. Arthur Lane, Italian Porcelain London 1954, national Gallery, Washington DC, Medici porcelain flask Metropolitan Museum of Art, Medici porcelain ewer
14.
Albrechtsburg
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The Albrechtsburg is a Late Gothic castle that dominates the town centre of Meissen in the German state of Saxony. It stands on a hill above the river Elbe, adjacent to the Meissen Cathedral, by 929 King Henry I of Germany had finally subdued the Slavic Glomacze tribe and built a fortress within their settlement area, situated on a rock high above the Elbe river. This castle, called Misnia after a creek, became the nucleus of the town and from 965 the residence of the Margraves of Meissen. From 1464 Elector Ernest of Saxony ruled jointly with his younger brother Albert the Bold, the masterpiece of court builder Arnold of Westphalia, it was constructed solely as a residence, not as a military fortress, the first German castle built for such a purpose. When the brothers divided the Wettin lands by the 1485 Treaty of Leipzig, though Alberts son Duke George the Bearded resided at the Albrechtsburg, it was soon superseded by Dresden Castle as the new seat of the Wettin Albertinian line. Meissen porcelain was produced at the Albrechtsburg until manufacturing moved to its present location in 1863
15.
Alchemy
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Alchemy is a philosophical and protoscientific tradition practiced throughout Europe, Egypt and Asia. It aimed to purify, mature, and perfect certain objects, the perfection of the human body and soul was thought to permit or result from the alchemical magnum opus and, in the Hellenistic and western tradition, the achievement of gnosis. In Europe, the creation of a stone was variously connected with all of these projects. In English, the term is limited to descriptions of European alchemy, but similar practices existed in the Far East, the Indian subcontinent. In Europe, following the 12th-century Renaissance produced by the translation of Islamic works on science, Islamic and European alchemists developed a structure of basic laboratory techniques, theory, terminology, and experimental method, some of which are still in use today. However, they continued antiquitys belief in four elements and guarded their work in secrecy including cyphers and their work was guided by Hermetic principles related to magic, mythology, and religion. The latter interests historians of esotericism, psychologists, and some philosophers, the subject has also made an ongoing impact on literature and the arts. The word alchemy was borrowed from Old French alquemie, alkimie, taken from Medieval Latin alchymia, the Arabic word is borrowed from Late Greek chēmeía, chēmía, with the agglutination of the Arabic definite article al-. This ancient Greek word was derived from the early Greek name for Egypt, Chēmia, based on the Egyptian name for Egypt, the Medieval Latin form was influenced by Greek chymeia meaning ‘mixture’ and referring to pharmaceutical chemistry. Alchemy covers several philosophical traditions spanning some four millennia and three continents and these traditions general penchant for cryptic and symbolic language makes it hard to trace their mutual influences and genetic relationships. It is still a question whether these three strands share a common origin, or to what extent they influenced each other. Here, elements of technology, religion, mythology, and Hellenistic philosophy, each with their own much longer histories, Zosimos of Panopolis wrote the oldest known books on alchemy, while Mary the Jewess is credited as being the first non-fictitious Western alchemist. They wrote in Greek and lived in Egypt under Roman rule, mythology – Zosimos of Panopolis asserted that alchemy dated back to Pharaonic Egypt where it was the domain of the priestly class, though there is little to no evidence for his assertion. Alchemical writers used Classical figures from Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology to illuminate their works and these included the pantheon of gods related to the Classical planets, Isis, Osiris, Jason, and many others. The central figure in the mythology of alchemy is Hermes Trismegistus and his name is derived from the god Thoth and his Greek counterpart Hermes. Hermes and his caduceus or serpent-staff, were among alchemys principal symbols, according to Clement of Alexandria, he wrote what were called the forty-two books of Hermes, covering all fields of knowledge. The Hermetica of Thrice-Great Hermes is generally understood to form the basis for Western alchemical philosophy and practice and these writings were collected in the first centuries of the common era. Technology – The dawn of Western alchemy is sometimes associated with that of metallurgy, Many writings were lost when the emperor Diocletian ordered the burning of alchemical books after suppressing a revolt in Alexandria
16.
Augustus II the Strong
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Augustus II the Strong of the Albertine line of the House of Wettin was Elector of Saxony, Imperial Vicar and became King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Augustus great physical strength earned him the nicknames the Strong, the Saxon Hercules, in order to be elected King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Augustus converted to Roman Catholicism. As a Catholic, he received the Order of the Golden Fleece from the Holy Roman Emperor, as Elector of Saxony, he is perhaps best remembered as a patron of the arts and architecture. He established the Saxon capital of Dresden as a cultural centre. Augustus also amassed an art collection and built lavish baroque palaces in Dresden. His reigns brought Poland some troubled times and he led the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Great Northern War, which led to the Russian Empire strengthening its influence in Europe, especially within Poland. His main pursuit was bolstering royal power in the Commonwealth, characterized by broad decentralization in comparison with other European monarchies and he tried to accomplish this goal using foreign powers and thus destabilized the state. Augustus was born in Dresden on 12 May 1670, the son of the Elector Johann Georg III. As the second son, Augustus had no expectation of inheriting the electorate, since his brother, Johann Georg IV. Augustus married Kristiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth in Bayreuth on 20 January 1693 and they had a son, Frederick Augustus II, who succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony and King of Poland as Augustus III. While cavorting during the season in Venice, his older brother. On 27 April 1694, Johann Georg died without issue and Augustus became Elector of Saxony. To be eligible for election to the throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1697, the Saxon dukes had traditionally been called champions of the Reformation. Saxony had been a stronghold of German Protestantism and Augustus conversion was considered shocking in Protestant Europe. Although the prince-elector guaranteed Saxonys religious status quo, Augustus conversion alienated many of his Protestant subjects, as a result of the enormous expenditure of money used to bribe the Polish nobility and clergy, Augustus contemporaries derisively referred to the Saxon dukes royal ambitions as his Polish adventure. His church policy within the Holy Roman Empire followed orthodox Lutheranism and ran counter to his new-found religious, the Protestant princes of the empire and the two remaining Protestant electors were anxious to keep Saxony well-integrated in their camp. Saxony remained Lutheran and the few Roman Catholics residing in Saxony lacked any political or civil rights. In 1717, it clear just how awkward the situation was, to realize his ambitious dynastic plans in Poland and Germany
17.
Tile
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A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass, generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops. Alternatively, tile can sometimes refer to units made from lightweight materials such as perlite, wood. In another sense, a tile is a tile or similar object. The word is derived from the French word tuile, which is, in turn, from the Latin word tegula, Tiles are often used to form wall and floor coverings, and can range from simple square tiles to complex mosaics. Tiling stone is marble, onyx, granite or slate. Thinner tiles can be used on walls than on floors, which require more durable surfaces that will resist impacts, the earliest evidence of glazed brick is the discovery of glazed bricks in the Elamite Temple at Chogha Zanbil, dated to the 13th century BC. Glazed and colored bricks were used to make low reliefs in Ancient Mesopotamia, most famously the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, now reconstructed in Berlin. Mesopotamian craftsmen were imported for the palaces of the Persian Empire such as Persepolis, tiling was used in the second century by the Sinhalese kings of ancient Sri Lanka, using smoothed and polished stone laid on floors and in swimming pools. Historians consider the techniques and tools for tiling as well advanced, evidenced by the fine workmanship, tiling from this period can be seen Ruwanwelisaya and Kuttam Pokuna in the city of Anuradhapura. The Achaemenid Empire decorated buildings with glazed tiles, including Darius the Greats palace at Susa. The succeeding Sassanid Empire used tiles patterned with geometric designs, flowers, plants, birds and human beings, early Islamic mosaics in Iran consist mainly of geometric decorations in mosques and mausoleums, made of glazed brick. Typical turquoise tiling becomes popular in 10th-11th century and is used mostly for Kufic inscriptions on mosque walls, seyyed Mosque in Isfahan, Dome of Maraqeh and the Jame Mosque of Gonabad are among the finest examples. The dome of Jame Atiq Mosque of Qazvin is also dated to this period, the golden age of Persian tilework began during the reign the Timurid Empire. In the moraq technique, single-color tiles were cut into small geometric pieces, after hardening, these panels were assembled on the walls of buildings. But the mosaic was not limited to flat areas, Tiles were used to cover both the interior and exterior surfaces of domes. Prominent Timurid examples of this include the Jame Mosque of Yazd, Goharshad Mosque, the Madrassa of Khan in Shiraz. Other important tile techniques of time include girih tiles, with their characteristic white girih. Mihrabs, being the points of mosques, were usually the places where most sophisticated tilework was placed
18.
Stoneware
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Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery which has normally been fired below 1200°C. Porcelain, bone china and stoneware, all fired at high temperatures to vitrify, are the main other important types of pottery. Pit fired earthenware dates back to as early as 29, 000–25,000 BCE, outside East Asia, porcelain was manufactured only from the 18th century, and then initially as an expensive luxury. Earthenware, when fired, is opaque and non-vitreous, soft, the Combined Nomenclature of the European Communities describes it as being made of selected clays sometimes mixed with feldspars and varying amounts of other minerals and white or light-colored. Generally, earthenware bodies exhibit higher plasticity than most whiteware bodies and hence are easier to shape by RAM press, due to its porosity, earthenware, with a water absorption of 5-8%, must be glazed to be watertight. Earthenware has lower mechanical strength than bone china, porcelain or stoneware, darker-colored terracotta earthenwares, typically orange or red, due to a comparatively high content of iron oxide are widely used for flower pots, tiles and some decorative and oven wares. A general body formulation for contemporary earthenware is 25% kaolin, 25% ball clay, 35% quartz and 15% feldspar. Modern earthenware may be fired to temperatures between 1,000 and 1,150 °C and glost-fired to between 950 to 1,050 °C, the usual practice in factories and some studio potteries. Some studio potters follow the practice, with a low-temperature bisque firing. The firing schedule will be determined by the raw materials used, historically, such high temperatures were unattainable in most cultures and periods until modern times, though Chinese ceramics were far ahead of other cultures in this respect. Earthenware can be produced at firing temperatures as low as 600 °C, much historical pottery was fired somewhere around 800 °C, giving a wide margin of error where there was no precise way of measuring temperature, and very variable conditions within the kiln. After firing most earthenware bodies will be colored white, buff or red, for red earthenware, the firing temperature affects the color of the clay body. Lower temperatures produce a red terracotta color, higher temperatures will make the clay brown or even black. Higher firing temperatures may cause earthenware to bloat, an Introduction to the Technology Of Pottery. Whitewares, Production, Testing And Quality Control, the Potters Dictionary of Materials and Techniques. A & C Black Publishers Limited, London, England, Third Edition,1991
19.
Baroque
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The style began around 1600 in Rome and Italy, and spread to most of Europe. The aristocracy viewed the dramatic style of Baroque art and architecture as a means of impressing visitors by projecting triumph, power, Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases, and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence. However, baroque has a resonance and application that extend beyond a reduction to either a style or period. It is also yields the Italian barocco and modern Spanish barroco, German Barock, Dutch Barok, others derive it from the mnemonic term Baroco, a supposedly laboured form of syllogism in logical Scholastica. The Latin root can be found in bis-roca, in informal usage, the word baroque can simply mean that something is elaborate, with many details, without reference to the Baroque styles of the 17th and 18th centuries. The word Baroque, like most periodic or stylistic designations, was invented by later critics rather than practitioners of the arts in the 17th, the term Baroque was initially used in a derogatory sense, to underline the excesses of its emphasis. In particular, the term was used to describe its eccentric redundancy and noisy abundance of details, although it was long thought that the word as a critical term was first applied to architecture, in fact it appears earlier in reference to music. Another hypothesis says that the word comes from precursors of the style, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and he did not make the distinctions between Mannerism and Baroque that modern writers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted into the 18th century. Long despised, Baroque art and architecture became fashionable between the two World Wars, and has remained in critical favour. In painting the gradual rise in popular esteem of Caravaggio has been the best barometer of modern taste, William Watson describes a late phase of Shang-dynasty Chinese ritual bronzes of the 11th century BC as baroque. The term Baroque may still be used, usually pejoratively, describing works of art, craft, the appeal of Baroque style turned consciously from the witty, intellectual qualities of 16th-century Mannerist art to a visceral appeal aimed at the senses. It employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, germinal ideas of the Baroque can also be found in the work of Michelangelo. Even more generalised parallels perceived by some experts in philosophy, prose style, see the Neapolitan palace of Caserta, a Baroque palace whose construction began in 1752. In paintings Baroque gestures are broader than Mannerist gestures, less ambiguous, less arcane and mysterious, more like the stage gestures of opera, Baroque poses depend on contrapposto, the tension within the figures that move the planes of shoulders and hips in counterdirections. Baroque is a style of unity imposed upon rich, heavy detail, Baroque style featured exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint, and even a kind of artistic sensationalism. There were highly diverse strands of Italian baroque painting, from Caravaggio to Cortona, the most prominent Spanish painter of the Baroque was Diego Velázquez. The later Baroque style gradually gave way to a more decorative Rococo, while the Baroque nature of Rembrandts art is clear, the label is less often used for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in this trend, while continuing to produce the traditional categories
20.
Chinoiserie
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Chinoiserie is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and East Asian artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, literature, theatre, and music. First appearing in the 17th century, this trend was popularized in the 18th century due to the rise in trade with China, as a style, chinoiserie is related to the Rococo style. Chinoiserie entered European art and decoration in the mid-to-late 17th century and it was also popularized by the influx of Chinese and Indian goods brought annually to Europe aboard English, Dutch, French, and Swedish East India Companies. There was a revival of popularity for chinoiserie in Europe and the United States from mid-19th Century through the 1920s, though usually understood as a European style, chinoiserie was a global phenomenon. Local versions of chinoiserie were developed in India, Japan, Persia and those products then inspired local artists and artisans such as ceramicists making Talavera pottery at Puebla de Los Angeles. There were many reasons why chinoiserie gained such popularity in Europe in the 18th century, Europeans had a fascination with the exotic East due to their increased, but still restricted, access to new cultures through expanded trade with East Asia, especially China. While Europeans frequently held inaccurate ideas about East Asian, this did not necessarily preclude their fascination, in particular, the Chinese who had exquisitely finished art. Whose court ceremonial was even more elaborate than that of Versailles were viewed as highly civilized. According to Voltaire in his Art de la Chine, The fact remains that four years ago. In other words, somewhere, on the side of the world, there existed a culture so rich that it rivaled the civilizations of Rome. Chinoiserie created a juxtaposition between something new and exotic for Europeans while at the same time reflecting the values of the 4,000 year old culture from which these objects came. Some critics saw the style as …a retreat from reason and taste and it was viewed as lacking the logic and reason upon which Antique art had been founded. Architect and author Robert Morris claimed that it …consisted of mere whims and chimera, without rules or order, it requires no fertility of genius to put into execution. Those with an archaeological view of the East, considered the chinoiserie style, with its distortions and whimsical approach, to be a mockery of the actual Chinese art. Finally, still believed that an interest in chinoiserie indicated a pervading cultural confusion in European society. Chinoiserie persisted into the 19th and 20th centuries but declined in popularity, there was a notable loss of interest in Chinese-inspired décor after the death in 1830 of King George IV, a great proponent of the style. The First Opium War of 1839-1842 between Britain and China disrupted trade and caused a decline of interest in the Oriental. China closed its doors to exports and imports and for many people became a fashion of the past
21.
Tea ware
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Teaware encompasses a broad international spectrum of equipment used in the brewing and consumption of tea. Many components make up that spectrum, and vary based upon the type of tea being prepared. This is often referred to as the tea ceremony, and holds much significance in many cultures, particularly in northwestern Europe and in eastern Asia. Teapots, which are used to steep the tea leaves in hot water Teacups, there are many different kinds of tea cups. Tea strainers, for extracting leaves from tea solutions Tea trays, or draining trays, Tea bags and tea balls, which are used to hold tea leaves in water for removal after steeping. Tea caddies, for storing tea when not being consumed The following are a few of the essential components, Tea bowls are available in a wide range of sizes and styles, and different styles are used for thick and thin tea. Shallow bowls, which allow the tea to cool rapidly, are used in summer, bowls are frequently named by their creators or owners, or by a tea master. Bowls over four hundred years old are in use today, the best bowls are thrown by hand, and some bowls are extremely valuable. Irregularities and imperfections are prized, they are featured prominently as the front of the bowl. This is the implement used to mix the tea with the hot water. Tea whisks are carved from a piece of bamboo. Tea whisks quickly become worn and damaged with use, and the host should use a new one when holding a chakai or chaji, the small lidded container in which the powdered tea is placed for use in the tea-making procedure. Tea scoops generally are carved from a piece of bamboo. They are used to scoop tea from the tea caddy into the tea bowl, bamboo tea scoops in the most casual style have a nodule in the approximate center. Larger scoops are used to transfer tea into the tea caddy in the mizuya, different styles and colours are used in various tea traditions. The chakin is a rectangular white linen or hemp cloth mainly used to wipe the tea bowl. Tea equipment may be constructed of materials, from iron in Japan to porcelain and clay in China. Of particular repute are the Yixing clay teapots produced in eastern China, museum of Tea Ware, Hong Kong Island Tea set List of Japanese tea ceremony equipment
22.
Jean-Antoine Watteau
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Jean-Antoine Watteau, better known as Antoine Watteau, was a French painter whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, as seen in the tradition of Correggio and Rubens. He revitalized the waning Baroque style, shifting it to the severe, more naturalistic. Watteau is credited with inventing the genre of fêtes galantes, scenes of bucolic and idyllic charm, some of his best known subjects were drawn from the world of Italian comedy and ballet. Watteau was born in October 1684 in the town of Valenciennes which had passed from the Spanish Netherlands to France. His father, Jean-Philippe Watteau, was a given to brawling. Showing an early interest in painting, Jean-Antoine may have been apprenticed to Jacques-Albert Gérin, jean-Antoines first artistic subjects were charlatans selling quack remedies on the streets of Valenciennes. Watteau left for Paris in 1702, by 1705 he was employed as an assistant by the painter Claude Gillot, whose work represented a reaction against the turgid official art of Louis XIVs reign. In Gillots studio Watteau became acquainted with the characters of the commedia dellarte, afterward he moved to the workshop of Claude Audran III, an interior decorator, under whose influence he began to make drawings admired for their consummate elegance. Audran was the curator of the Palais du Luxembourg, where Watteau was able to see the magnificent series of canvases painted by Peter Paul Rubens for Queen Marie de Medici. The Flemish painter would become one of his influences, together with the Venetian masters he would later study in the collection of his patron and friend. In 1709 Watteau tried to obtain the Prix de Rome and was rejected by the Academy. In 1712 he tried again and was considered so good that, rather than receiving the one-year stay in Rome for which he had applied, he was accepted as a full member of the Academy. He took five years to deliver the required reception piece, but it was one of his masterpieces, Watteau lacked aristocratic patrons, his buyers were bourgeois such as bankers and dealers. The subject of his painting, Pierrot, is an actor in a white satin costume who stands isolated from his four companions. Watteaus final masterpiece, the Shop-sign of Gersaint, exits the pastoral forest locale for an urban set of encounters. Painted at Watteaus own insistence, in eight days, working only in the mornings, in order to warm up his fingers, this sign for the shop in Paris of the paintings dealer Edme François Gersaint is effectively the final curtain of Watteaus theatre. It has been compared with Las Meninas as a meditation on art, the scene is an art gallery where the façade has magically vanished, and the gallery and street in the canvas are fused into one contiguous drama. Watteau alarmed his friends by a carelessness about his future and financial security, in fact he had been sickly and physically fragile since childhood
23.
Hausmalerei
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In France, the production of Sèvres porcelain was tightly controlled, so that painting was under strict factory control. By contrast, Limoges porcelain has always maintained a tradition of atelier decoration. Traditions of hausmalerei were never wholly extinguished, the founder of Heinrich & Co began as a hausmaler, purchasing porcelain blanks until he set up his own kilns ca 1903. From 1930 the Czech hausmaler Josef Kuba maintained an atelier in Karlsbad, Czech Republic, supplied by various porcelain manufacturers in Bavaria
24.
Western esotericism
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Western esotericism is a scholarly term for a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements which have developed within Western society. They are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo-Christian religion and from Enlightenment rationalism, the idea of categorising a wide range of Western traditions and philosophies together under the rubric that we now term esotericism developed in Europe during the late seventeenth century. Various academics have debated the definition of Western esotericism, with a number of different options proposed. One scholarly model adopts its definition of esotericism from certain esotericist schools of thought themselves, treating esotericism as a perennialist hidden, a second perspective sees esotericism as a category that encompasses world-views which seek to embrace an enchanted world-view in the face of increasing de-enchantment. The 19th century saw the emergence of new trends of thought that have come to be known as occultism. Prominent groups in this included the Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Modern Paganism developed within occultism, and includes religious movements such as Wicca, Esoteric ideas permeated the counterculture of the 1960s and later cultural tendencies, from which emerged the New Age movement in the 1970s. The academic study of Western esotericism only emerged in the late 20th-century, pioneered by scholars like Frances Yates, Esoteric ideas have meanwhile also exerted an influence in popular culture, appearing in art, literature, film, and music. The adjective esoteric first appeared in the second century CE as the Ancient Greek term esôterikós, the noun esotericism, in its French form of lésotérisme, was first used in 1828, by Jacques Matter in his book, Histoire du gnosticisme. The term was popularized by the French occultist and ceremonial magician Eliphas Lévi in the 1850s, Lévi also introduced the term loccultisme, a notion that he developed against the background of contemporary socialist and Catholic discourses. Esotericism and occultism were often employed as synonyms until being distinguished by later scholars, the concept of Western esotericism is a modern scholarly construct rather than a pre-existing, self-defined tradition of thought. The first to do so was Ehregott Daniel Colberg, a German Lutheran who wrote Platonisch-Hermetisches Christianity, various academics have emphasised the idea that esotericism is a phenomenon unique to the Western world, as Faivre stated, an empirical perspective would hold that esotericism is a Western notion. As scholars such as Faivre and Hanegraaff have pointed out, there is no category of Eastern or Oriental esotericism. The emphasis on Western esotericism was nevertheless primarily devised to distinguish the field from a universal esotericism, Hanegraaff has characterised these as recognisable world views and approaches to knowledge that have played an important although always controversial role in the history of Western culture. This attitude was endorsed by Egil Asprem, nevertheless, esotericism itself remains a controversial term, with scholars specialising in the subject disagreeing as to how it can best be defined. It subsequently became a popular approach within several esoteric movements, most notably Martinism and Traditionalism, within the academic field of religious studies, those who study different religions in search of an inner, universal dimension to them all are termed religionists. Such religionist ideas also exerted an influence on more recent scholars like Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, there are various problems with this model for understanding Western esotericism. The most significant is that is rests upon the conviction that there really is a universal, hidden, moreover, Hanegraaff noted that when scholars adopt this definition, it shows that they subscribe to the religious doctrines which are espoused by the very groups that they are studying
25.
Kaolin
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Kaolinite /ˈkeɪəlᵻˌnaɪt/ is a clay mineral, part of the group of industrial minerals, with the chemical composition Al2Si2O54. It is a silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina octahedra. Rocks that are rich in kaolinite are known as kaolin /ˈkeɪəlᵻn/ or china clay, the name kaolin is derived from Gaoling, a Chinese village near Jingdezhen in southeastern Chinas Jiangxi Province. The name entered English in 1727 from the French version of the word, kaolin, kaolinite has a low shrink–swell capacity and a low cation-exchange capacity. It is a soft, earthy, usually white, mineral, in many parts of the world it is colored pink-orange-red by iron oxide, giving it a distinct rust hue. Lighter concentrations yield white, yellow, or light orange colors, alternating layers are sometimes found, as at Providence Canyon State Park in Georgia, United States. Commercial grades of kaolin are supplied and transported as dry powder, kaolinite group clays undergo a series of phase transformations upon thermal treatment in air at atmospheric pressure. Below 100 °C, exposure to dry air will slowly remove liquid water from the kaolin, the end-state for this transformation is referred to as leather dry. Between 100 °C and about 550 °C, any remaining water is expelled from kaolinite. The end state for this transformation is referred to as bone dry, throughout this temperature range, the expulsion of water is reversible, if the kaolin is exposed to liquid water, it will be reabsorbed and disintegrate into its fine particulate form. Subsequent transformations are not reversible, and represent permanent chemical changes, endothermic dehydration of kaolinite begins at 550–600 °C producing disordered metakaolin, but continuous hydroxyl loss is observed up to 900 °C. Al2Si2O54 → Al2Si2O7 +2 H2O, further heating to 925–950 °C converts metakaolin to an aluminium-silicon spinel which is sometimes also referred to as a gamma-alumina type structure,2 Al2Si2O7 → Si3Al4O12 + SiO2. Upon calcination above 1050 °C, the spinel phase nucleates and transforms to platelet mullite, finally, at 1400 °C the needle form of mullite appears, offering substantial increases in structural strength and heat resistance. This is a structural but not chemical transformation, see stoneware for more information on this form. Kaolinite clay occurs in abundance in soils that have formed from the weathering of rocks in hot. Such climatically-related differences in mineral content are often used to infer changes in climates in the geological past. In the Institut National pour lEtude Agronomique au Congo Belge classification system, in the US the main kaolin deposits are found in central Georgia, on a stretch of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line between Augusta and Macon. The deposits were formed between the late Cretaceous and early Paleogene, about 100 million to 45 million years ago, in sediments derived from weathered igneous, Kaolin production in the US during 2011 was 5.5 million tonnes
26.
Frit
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A frit is a ceramic composition that has been fused in a special fusing oven, quenched to form a glass, and granulated. However, not all glass that is fused and quenched in water is frit, according to the OED, the origin of the word frit dates back to 1662 and is a calcinated mixture of sand and fluxes ready to be melted in a crucible to make glass. Nowadays, the raw materials of glass making are more commonly called glass batch. In antiquity, frit could be crushed to make pigments or shaped to create objects and it may also have served as an intermediate material in the manufacture of raw glass. The definition of frit tends to be variable and has proved an issue for scholars. In recent centuries, frits have taken on a number of roles, such as biomaterials, frit in the form of alumino-silicate can be used in glaze-free continuous casting refractories. Archaeologists have found evidence of frit in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Europe, the definition of frit as a sintered, polycrystalline, unglazed material can be applied to these archaeological contexts. It is typically colored blue or green, Blue frit, also known as Egyptian blue, was made from quartz, lime, a copper compound, and an alkali flux, all heated to a temperature between 850 and 1000°C. Quartz sand may have used to contribute silica to the frit. The copper content must be greater than the content in order to create a blue frit. Ultimately the frit consists of crystals and “partially reacted quartz particles bonded together” by interstitial glass. Despite an argument to the contrary, scientists have found that, regardless of alkali content, high alkali content will yield “a large proportion of glass, ” thereby diluting the cuprorivaite crystals and producing lighter shades of blue. Regrinding and resintering the frit will create finer cuprorivaite crystals, also producing lighter shades, the earliest appearance of blue frit is as a pigment on a tomb painting at Saqqara dated to 2900 BC, though its use became more popular in Egypt around 2600 BC. Blue frit has also uncovered in the royal tombs at Ur from the Early Dynastic III period. Its use in the Mediterranean dates to the Thera frescoes from the Late Middle Bronze Age, while the glass phase is present in blue frits from Egypt, scientists have not detected it in blue frits from the Near East, Europe, and the Aegean. Natural weathering, which is responsible for the corrosion of glasses and glazes from these three regions, is the likely reason for this absence. At Amarna, archaeologists have found blue frit in the form of cakes, powder residues. Analysis of the microstructures and crystal sizes of these frits has allowed Hatton, Shortland, the cakes were produced by heating the raw materials for frit, then they were ground to make powders, and finally, the powders were molded and refired to create vessels
27.
Soft-paste porcelain
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Soft-paste porcelain is a type of a ceramic material, sometimes referred to simply as soft paste. The porcelain was termed soft because of their lower firing temperates compared with hard-paste porcelain, the earliest formulations were mixtures of clay and ground-up glass. Soapstone and lime are also known to have included in some compositions. Medici porcelain was the first successful attempt in Europe to make imitations of Chinese porcelain, produced between 1575 and 1587 the body is a type of soft-paste porcelain, composed of white clay containing powdered feldspar, calcium phosphate and wollastonite, with quartz. Other early European soft-paste porcelain, also a porcelain, was produced at the Rouen manufactory in 1673. Again, these were developed in an effort to imitate high-valued Chinese hard-paste porcelain, as these early formulations suffered from high pyroplastic deformation, or slumping in the kiln at raised temperatures, they were difficult and uneconomic to use in mass. Formulations were later developed based on kaolin, quartz, feldspars, nepheline syenite, soft-paste porcelain with these ingredients was technically superior to the traditional soft-paste and these formulations remain in production. Soft-paste made with clay is not very plastic and shaping it on the potters wheel is difficult. Those pastes with more clay, such as porcelain, are extremely plastic. The feldspathic formulations are, however, more resilient and suffer less pyroplastic deformation, the lower firing temperature gives artists and manufacturers some benefits, including a wider palette of colours for decoration and reduced fuel consumption. The body of soft-paste is more granular than hard-paste porcelain, less glass being formed in the firing process, Chinese porcelain, which arrived in Europe before the 14th century, was much admired and expensive to purchase. Attempts were made to imitate it from the 15th century onwards, in Venice there were experiments supposedly using opaque glass alone. Experiments at the Rouen manufactory produced the earliest soft-paste in France, when a 1673 patent was granted to Louis Poterat, an application for the renewal of the patent in 1694 stated, the secret was very little used, the petitioners devoting themselves rather to faience-making. Rouen porcelain, which is painted, is rare and difficult to identify. The first important French porcelain was made at the Saint-Cloud factory, the typical blue-painted Saint-Cloud porcelain, says Honey, is one of the most distinct and attractive of porcelains, and not the least part of its charm lies in the quality of the material itself. The glaze often shows a fine satin-like pitting of the surface helps to distinguish it from the brilliant shiny glaze of Mennecy. The heavy build of the pieces is also characteristic and is saved from clumsiness by a sense of mass, revealed in the subtly graduated thickness of wall. Louis Henry de Bourbon, prince de Condé established a factory on the grounds of his château de Chantilly in 1730
28.
Elector of Saxony
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Upon the extinction of the House of Ascania, it was enfeoffed to the Margraves of Meissen from the Wettin dynasty in 1423, who moved the residence up the Elbe river to Dresden. After the Empires dissolution in 1806, the Wettin electors raised Saxony to a kingdom, when Emperor Frederick Barbarossa deposed the Saxon duke Henry the Lion in 1180, the Wittenberg lands belonged to Alberts youngest son Count Bernhard of Anhalt, who assumed the Saxon ducal title. Bernards eldest son, Albert I, ceded Anhalt to his younger brother Henry, retained the ducal title and his sons divided the possessions into the duchies of Saxe-Wittenberg and Saxe-Lauenburg. Louis was succeeded by the Luxembourg king Charles of Bohemia, after being crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1355, Charles issued the Golden Bull of 1356, the fundamental law of the Empire settling the method of electing the German King by seven Prince-electors. In this way, the country, though small in area, the electoral dignity was connected with it the obligation of male primogeniture, that is, only the eldest son could succeed as ruler. This forbade the division of the territory among several heirs, preventing the disintegration of the country, the importance of this stipulation is shown by the history of most of the fragmented German principalities which were not electorates. Late Alberts Ascanian relative Duke Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg protested in vain, thus, in 1423, Saxe-Wittenberg, the Margraviate of Meissen and Thuringia were united under one ruler, and the unified territory gradually received the name of Saxony. The partition decisively enfeebled the Wettin dynasty in the rivalry with the rising House of Hohenzollern, the Protestant movement of the 16th century was largely effected under the protection of the Saxon rulers. The Elector did not become at once an adherent of the new opinions, owing to his intervention, Pope Leo X decided against summoning Luther to Rome in 1518, and the Elector secured for Luther Imperial safe-conduct to the 1521 Diet of Worms. When Luther was declared to be under the ban of the empire by Emperor Charles V. Lutheran doctrines spread first in Ernestine Saxony, in 1525, Frederick died and was succeeded by his brother, John the Constant. John was followed in 1532 by his son, John Frederick the Magnanimous, in 1542, he seized the Diocese of Naumburg-Zeitz, and confiscated the secular possessions of the Dioceses of Meissen and Hildesheim. The Catholic faith was forcibly suppressed, after the outbreak of the Schmalkaldic War, Elector John Frederick was placed under the Imperial ban and finally defeated and captured by Emperor Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg on 24 April 1547. In the Capitulation of Wittenberg of May 19, he was obliged to yield former Saxe-Wittenberg with the dignity to his Albertine cousin Duke Maurice. The Saxon Electorate after the Wittenberg Capitulation consisted of former Saxe-Wittenberg and Meissen together, Maurice secretly shared in all the princely conspiracies against the Emperor, who only escaped capture by flight. During the same year, Charles V was obliged by the Peace of Passau to grant freedom of religion to the Protestant Estates, Maurice died in 1553 at the age of 32. His brother and successor Elector Augustus seized the Catholic dioceses of Merseburg, the last Bishop of Merseburg, Michael Helding called Sidonius, died at Vienna in 1561. In the same manner after the death of Julius von Pflug, the last Catholic Bishop of Naumburg, in 1564 and those cathedral canons who were still Catholic were only permitted to exercise their religion for ten years more
29.
Prince-elector
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The prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century onwards, the Prince-Electors had the privilege of electing the King of the Romans, Charles V was the last to be a crowned Emperor, his successors were elected Emperors directly by the electoral college, each being titled Elected Emperor of the Romans. In practice, all but one Emperor from 1440 onwards came from the Austrian House of Habsburg, the dignity of Elector carried great prestige and was considered to be second only to that of King or Emperor. The Electors had exclusive privileges that were not shared with the princes of the Empire. The heir apparent to a secular prince-elector was known as an electoral prince, the German practice of electing monarchs began when ancient Germanic tribes formed ad hoc coalitions and elected the leaders thereof. Elections were irregularly held by the Franks, whose successor states include France, the French monarchy eventually became hereditary, but the Holy Roman Emperors remained elective, at least in theory, although the Habsburgs provided most of the later monarchs. While all free men originally exercised the right to vote in such elections, in the election of Lothar II in 1125, a small number of eminent nobles chose the monarch and then submitted him to the remaining magnates for their approbation. Soon, the right to choose the monarch was settled on a group of princes. The college of electors was mentioned in 1152 and again in 1198, a letter of Pope Urban IV suggests that by immemorial custom, seven princes had the right to elect the King and future Emperor. The seven have been mentioned as the vote-casters in the election of 1257 that resulted in two kings becoming elected, the Count Palatine of the Rhine held most of the former Duchy of Franconia after the last Duke died in 1039. The Margrave of Brandenburg became an Elector when the Duchy of Swabia was dissolved after the last Duke of Swabia was beheaded in 1268, Saxony, even with diminished territory, retained its eminent position. The Palatinate and Bavaria were originally held by the same individual, meanwhile, the King of Bohemia, who held the ancient imperial office of Arch-Cupbearer, asserted his right to participate in elections. Sometimes he was challenged on the grounds that his kingdom was not German, though usually he was recognized, instead of Bavaria which after all was just a younger line of Wittelsbachs. The Declaration of Rhense issued in 1338 had the effect that election by the majority of the electors automatically conferred the title and rule over the empire. The Golden Bull of 1356 finally resolved the disputes among the electors, in 1621, the Elector Palatine, Frederick V, came under the imperial ban after participating in the Bohemian Revolt. The Elector Palatines seat was conferred on the Duke of Bavaria, originally, the Duke held the electorate personally, but it was later made hereditary along with the duchy. When the Thirty Years War concluded with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, since the Elector of Bavaria retained his seat, the number of electors increased to eight, the two Wittelsbach lines now sufficiently estranged so as not to pose a combined potential threat. In 1685, the composition of the College of Electors was disrupted when a Catholic branch of the Wittelsbach family inherited the Palatinate
30.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
31.
Victoria and Albert Museum
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The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is the worlds largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and these include the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Royal Albert Hall. The museum is a public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media. Like other national British museums, entrance to the museum has been free since 2001, the V&A covers 12.5 acres and 145 galleries. Its collection spans 5,000 years of art, from ancient times to the present day, from the cultures of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa. The museum owns the worlds largest collection of sculpture, with the holdings of Italian Renaissance items being the largest outside Italy. The departments of Asia include art from South Asia, China, Japan, Korea, the East Asian collections are among the best in Europe, with particular strengths in ceramics and metalwork, while the Islamic collection is amongst the largest in the Western world. Overall, it is one of the largest museums in the world, New 17th- and 18th-century European galleries were opened on 9 December 2015. These restored the original Aston Webb interiors and host the European collections 1600–1815, at this stage the collections covered both applied art and science. Several of the exhibits from the Exhibition were purchased to form the nucleus of the collection, by February 1854 discussions were underway to transfer the museum to the current site and it was renamed South Kensington Museum. In 1855 the German architect Gottfried Semper, at the request of Cole, produced a design for the museum, but it was rejected by the Board of Trade as too expensive. The site was occupied by Brompton Park House, this was extended including the first refreshment rooms opened in 1857, the official opening by Queen Victoria was on 22 June 1857. In the following year, late night openings were introduced, made possible by the use of gas lighting, in these early years the practical use of the collection was very much emphasised as opposed to that of High Art at the National Gallery and scholarship at the British Museum. George Wallis, the first Keeper of Fine Art Collection, passionately promoted the idea of art education through the museum collections. From the 1860s to the 1880s the scientific collections had been moved from the museum site to various improvised galleries to the west of Exhibition Road. In 1893 the Science Museum had effectively come into existence when a director was appointed. The laying of the stone of the Aston Webb building on 17 May 1899 was the last official public appearance by Queen Victoria. It was during this ceremony that the change of name from the South Kensington Museum to the Victoria, the exhibition which the museum organised to celebrate the centennial of the 1899 renaming, A Grand Design, first toured in North America from 1997, returning to London in 1999
32.
Walters Art Museum
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The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th Century, located across the back alley, a block south of the Walters mansion on West Monument Street/Mount Vernon Place, on the northwest corner of North Charles Street at West Centre Street. The following year, The Walters reopened its original building after a dramatic three-year physical renovation and replacement of internal utilities. The Archimedes Palimpsest was on loan to the Walters Art Museum from a collector for conservation. This was one of the largest and most comprehensive such releases made by any museum, the Walters collection of ancient art includes examples from Egypt, Nubia, Greece, Rome, Etruria and the Near East. In 1911, Henry Walters purchased almost 100 gold artifacts from the Chiriqui region of western Panama in Central America, the museum owns the oldest surviving Chinese wood-and-lacquer image of the Buddha. It is exhibited in a gallery dedicated solely to this work, the Museum holds one of the largest and finest collections of Thai bronze, scrolls, and banner paintings in the world. Islamic art in all media is represented at the Walters, the Walters Museum owns an array of Islamic manuscripts. Walters Art Museum, MS W.613 contains five Mughal miniatures from a very important Khamsa of Nizami made for the Emperor Akbar, Henry Walters assembled a collection of art produced during the Middle Ages in all the major artistic media of the period. This forms the basis of the Walters medieval collection, for which the Museum is best known internationally. Considered one of the best collections of art in the United States, the Museums holdings include examples of metalwork, sculpture, stained glass, textiles, icons. Sculpted heads from the royal Abbey of St. Denis are rare surviving examples of sculptures that are directly connected with the origins of Gothic art in 12th Century France. An ivory casket covered with scenes of jousting knights is one of about a dozen such objects to survive in the world, many of these works are on display in the Museums galleries. Works in the collection are the subject of active research by the curatorial and conservation departments of the museum. The collection of European Renaissance and Baroque art features holdings of paintings, sculpture, furniture, ceramics, metal work, arms, the museum has one of ten surviving examples of the Sèvres pot-pourri vase in the shape of a ship from the 1750s and 1760s. William and Henry Walters collected works by late 19th Century French academic masters, Henry Walters was particularly interested in the courtly arts of 18th Century France. The museum’s collection of Sèvres porcelain includes a number of pieces that were made for members of the Royal Bourbon Court at Versailles Palace outside of Paris. Portrait miniatures and the examples of works, especially snuffboxes and watches, are displayed in the Treasury, along with some exceptional 19th-
33.
Rococo
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Rococo artists and architects used a more jocular, florid, and graceful approach to the Baroque. Their style was ornate and used light colours, asymmetrical designs, curves, unlike the political Baroque, the Rococo had playful and witty themes. By the end of the 18th century, Rococo was largely replaced by the Neoclassic style. In 1835 the Dictionary of the French Academy stated that the word Rococo usually covers the kind of ornament, style and design associated with Louis XVs reign and it includes therefore, all types of art from around the middle of the 18th century in France. The word is seen as a combination of the French rocaille and coquilles, the term may also be a combination of the Italian word barocco and the French rocaille and may describe the refined and fanciful style that became fashionable in parts of Europe in the 18th century. The Rococo love of shell-like curves and focus on decorative arts led some critics to say that the style was frivolous or merely modish, when the term was first used in English in about 1836, it was a colloquialism meaning old-fashioned. While there is some debate about the historical significance of the style to art in general. Italian architects of the late Baroque/early Rococo were wooed to Catholic Germany, Bohemia and Austria by local princes, an exotic but in some ways more formal type of Rococo appeared in France where Louis XIVs succession brought a change in the court artists and general artistic fashion. By the end of the long reign, rich Baroque designs were giving way to lighter elements with more curves. These elements are obvious in the designs of Nicolas Pineau. During the Régence, court life moved away from Versailles and this change became well established, first in the royal palace. The delicacy and playfulness of Rococo designs is seen as perfectly in tune with the excesses of Louis XVs reign. The 1730s represented the height of Rococo development in France, the style had spread beyond architecture and furniture to painting and sculpture, exemplified by the works of Antoine Watteau and François Boucher. The Rococo style was spread by French artists and engraved publications, william Hogarth helped develop a theoretical foundation for Rococo beauty. Though not intentionally referencing the movement, he argued in his Analysis of Beauty that the lines and S-curves prominent in Rococo were the basis for grace. The development of Rococo in Great Britain is considered to have connected with the revival of interest in Gothic architecture early in the 18th century. The beginning of the end for Rococo came in the early 1760s as figures like Voltaire and Jacques-François Blondel began to voice their criticism of the superficiality, Blondel decried the ridiculous jumble of shells, dragons, reeds, palm-trees and plants in contemporary interiors. By 1785, Rococo had passed out of fashion in France, replaced by the order, in Germany, late 18th century Rococo was ridiculed as Zopf und Perücke, and this phase is sometimes referred to as Zopfstil
34.
Seven Years' War
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The Seven Years War was a war fought between 1754 and 1763, the main conflict occurring in the seven-year period from 1756 to 1763. It involved every European great power of the time except the Ottoman Empire and spanned five continents, affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines. The conflict split Europe into two coalitions, led by the Kingdom of Great Britain on one side and the Kingdom of France on the other. Meanwhile, in India, the Mughal Empire, with the support of the French, faced with this sudden turn of events, Britain aligned herself with Prussia, in a series of political manoeuvres known as the Diplomatic Revolution. Conflict between Great Britain and France broke out in 1754–1756 when the British attacked disputed French positions in North America, meanwhile, rising power Prussia was struggling with Austria for dominance within and outside the Holy Roman Empire in central Europe. In 1756, the major powers switched partners, realizing that war was imminent, Prussia preemptively struck Saxony and quickly overran it. The result caused uproar across Europe, because of Austrias alliance with France to recapture Silesia, which had been lost in a previous war, Prussia formed an alliance with Britain. Reluctantly, by following the diet, most of the states of the empire joined Austrias cause. The Anglo-Prussian alliance was joined by smaller German states, Sweden, seeking to re-gain Pomerania joined the coalition, seeing its chance when virtually all of Europe opposed Prussia. Spain, bound by the Pacte de Famille, intervened on behalf of France, the Russian Empire was originally aligned with Austria, fearing Prussias ambition on the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but switched sides upon the succession of Tsar Peter III in 1762. Naples, Sicily, and Savoy, although sided with the Franco-Spanish alliance, like Sweden, Russia concluded a separate peace with Prussia. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris between France, Spain and Great Britain and the Treaty of Hubertusburg between Saxony, Austria and Prussia, in 1763. The Native American tribes were excluded from the settlement, a subsequent conflict, Prussia emerged as a new European great power. Although Austria failed to retrieve the territory of Silesia from Prussia its military prowess was noted by the other powers. The involvement of Portugal, Spain and Sweden did not return them to their status as great powers. France was deprived of many of its colonies and had saddled itself with heavy war debts that its inefficient financial system could barely handle. Spain lost Florida but gained French Louisiana and regained control of its colonies, e. g. Cuba and the Philippines, France and Spain avenged their defeat in 1778 when the American Revolutionary War broke out, with hopes of destroying Britains dominance once and for all. The Seven Years War was perhaps the first true world war, having taken place almost 160 years before World War I and it was characterized in Europe by sieges and the arson of towns as well as open battles with heavy losses
35.
Frederick the Great
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Frederick II was King of Prussia from 1740 until 1786, the longest reign of any Hohenzollern king. Frederick was the last titled King in Prussia and declared himself King of Prussia after achieving full sovereignty for all historical Prussian lands, Prussia had greatly increased its territories and became a leading military power in Europe under his rule. He became known as Frederick the Great and was affectionately nicknamed Der Alte Fritz by the Prussian, in his youth, Frederick was more interested in music and philosophy than the art of war. Upon ascending to the Prussian throne, he attacked Austria and claimed Silesia during the Silesian Wars, winning acclaim for himself. Near the end of his life, Frederick physically connected most of his realm by conquering Polish territories in the First Partition of Poland and he was an influential military theorist whose analysis emerged from his extensive personal battlefield experience and covered issues of strategy, tactics, mobility and logistics. Considering himself the first servant of the state, Frederick was a proponent of enlightened absolutism and he modernized the Prussian bureaucracy and civil service and pursued religious policies throughout his realm that ranged from tolerance to segregation. He reformed the system and made it possible for men not of noble stock to become judges. Frederick also encouraged immigrants of various nationalities and faiths to come to Prussia, some critics, however, point out his oppressive measures against conquered Polish subjects during the First Partition. Frederick supported arts and philosophers he favored, as well as allowing complete freedom of the press, Frederick is buried at his favorite residence, Sanssouci in Potsdam. Because he died childless, Frederick was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II, son of his brother, historian Leopold von Ranke was unstinting in his praise of Fredericks Heroic life, inspired by great ideas, filled with feats of arms. Immortalized by the raising of the Prussian state to the rank of a power, Johann Gustav Droysen was even more extolling. However, by the 21st century, a re-evaluation of his legacy as a great warrior, Frederick, the son of Frederick William I and his wife, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, was born in Berlin on 24 January 1712. The birth of Frederick was welcomed by his grandfather, Frederick I, with more than usual pleasure, with the death of his father in 1713, Frederick William became King of Prussia, thus making young Frederick the crown prince. The new king wished for his sons and daughters to be educated not as royalty and he had been educated by a Frenchwoman, Madame de Montbail, who later became Madame de Rocoulle, and he wished that she educate his children. However, he possessed a violent temper and ruled Brandenburg-Prussia with absolute authority. As Frederick grew, his preference for music, literature and French culture clashed with his fathers militarism, in contrast, Fredericks mother Sophia was polite, charismatic and learned. Her father, George Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg, succeeded to the British throne as King George I in 1714, Frederick was brought up by Huguenot governesses and tutors and learned French and German simultaneously. Although Frederick William I was raised a Calvinist, he feared he was not of the elect, to avoid the possibility of Frederick being motivated by the same concerns, the king ordered that his heir not be taught about predestination
36.
Royal Porcelain Factory, Berlin
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The Royal Porcelain Factory in Berlin was founded in 1763 by Frederick II of Prussia. Its actual origins, however, lie in three private enterprises, which, under patronage, were trying to establish the production of white gold in Berlin from the mid-18th century onwards. The company logo is a cobalt blue sceptre, which is stamped on every piece, all painted pieces produced by KPM are signed by the painter. KPM is still producing to this day, each piece of dishware, KPM has produced a number of dishware forms and porcelain figurines throughout its history. Some forms have changed their shape in over 200 years of production. Before KPM Berlin was founded two attempts had already made to establish a porcelain manufactory in Berlin. In 1751 the Berlin wool manufacturer Wilhelm Caspar Wegely was granted the privilege to set up a porcelain manufactory in Berlin. Furthermore, Frederick granted exemption from duties for the import of essential materials, Wegely hired first-class craftsmen from his competitors, and appointed the porcelain sculptor Ernst Heinrich Reichard to the post of chief modeller. However, technical difficulties and the Seven Years’ War between Prussia and Saxony soon proved to be the enterprise’s downfall, in 1757 he dissolved his company and sold its inventories, equipment and materials to the Berlin businessman Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. In 1761, the porcelain manufactory in Berlin started its operations. Gotzkowsky concluded an agreement with Wegely’s chief modeller, Ernst Heinrich Reichard, Reichard received 4,000 thaler for the arcanum, and another 3,000 for the stock of porcelain and other materials. Furthermore, he undertook to work for Gotzkowsky as a keeper of the arcanum, Gotzkowsky also agreed to take over Reichard’s eight workers. Appreciated and supported by the King of Prussia, Gotzkowsky managed to attract important artists, Gotzkowsky bought another building next to his own property at Leipziger Straße 4, and began to build a manufactory on the site. Nevertheless, Gotzkowsky’s finances began to deteriorate, since the royal exchequer was in the red on account of the war, Gotzkowsky believed that he stood little or no chance of obtaining assistance from the king. The end of the war signalled the end for Gotzkowsky’s manufactory. Today, the porcelain from the early days marked with a W for Wegely und a G for Gotzkowsky are extremely rare, on 19 September 1763, Frederick II officially became the manufactory’s new owner. He purchased the manufactory for the sum of 225,000 thaler. He gave the business its name and allowed it to use the royal sceptre as its symbol, from now on it was called Koenigliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin and became a model of how to run a business
37.
Neoclassicism
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The main Neoclassical movement coincided with the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th century, laterally competing with Romanticism. In architecture, the style continued throughout the 19th, 20th, European Neoclassicism in the visual arts began c.1760 in opposition to the then-dominant Baroque and Rococo styles. Each neo-classicism selects some models among the range of classics that are available to it. They ignored both Archaic Greek art and the works of Late Antiquity, the Rococo art of ancient Palmyra came as a revelation, through engravings in Woods The Ruins of Palmyra. While the movement is described as the opposed counterpart of Romanticism. The case of the main champion of late Neoclassicism, Ingres, demonstrates this especially well. The revival can be traced to the establishment of formal archaeology, the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann were important in shaping this movement in both architecture and the visual arts. With the advent of the Grand Tour, a fad of collecting antiquities began that laid the foundations of many great collections spreading a Neoclassical revival throughout Europe, Neoclassicism in each art implies a particular canon of a classical model. In English, the term Neoclassicism is used primarily of the arts, the similar movement in English literature. This, which had been dominant for decades, was beginning to decline by the time Neoclassicism in the visual arts became fashionable. Though terms differ, the situation in French literature was similar, in music, the period saw the rise of classical music, and Neoclassicism is used of 20th-century developments. Ingress coronation portrait of Napoleon even borrowed from Late Antique consular diptychs and their Carolingian revival, much Neoclassical painting is more classicizing in subject matter than in anything else. A fierce, but often very badly informed, dispute raged for decades over the merits of Greek and Roman art, with Winckelmann. The work of artists, who could not easily be described as insipid, combined aspects of Romanticism with a generally Neoclassical style. Unlike Carstens unrealized schemes, the etchings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi were numerous and profitable and his main subject matter was the buildings and ruins of Rome, and he was more stimulated by the ancient than the modern. Neoclassicism in painting gained a new sense of direction with the success of Jacques-Louis Davids Oath of the Horatii at the Paris Salon of 1785. Despite its evocation of republican virtues, this was a commission by the royal government, David managed to combine an idealist style with drama and forcefulness. David rapidly became the leader of French art, and after the French Revolution became a politician with control of government patronage in art
38.
Count Camillo Marcolini
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Camillo Count Marcolini-Ferretti was a minister and general director of the fine arts for the Electorate, later Kingdom of Saxony. The prince-elector Frederick Christian met Camillos father in Rome and they agreed that in 1752 Camillo would be sent as donze to the Saxon court, in Saxony, Camillo gained the prince-electors and future Frederick Augustus I of Saxonys trust. In 1767 Camillo became Lord Chamberlain,1778 Lord Controller,1799 Lord equerry,1772 Privy Councillor and 1809 minister of the royal cabinet, in 1813, after the Battle of Leipzig, Marcolini followed the King into exile. Camillo also became director of the fine arts in 1780 later the director of the art academy. Some Meissen services from this time are known as Marcolini Services after him, Camillo founded the zoological garden and horse breeding in Annaburg in 1792. On May 4,1778 Marcolini married Baroness Anna OKelly and he died in 1814 in his exile in Prague Camillos ensigna from 1775 and 1814 was the crossed swords with a star. Palais Bruehl Marcolini Marcolinihaus Adelspalais wird zum Stadtkrankenhaus
39.
Art Nouveau
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Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture and applied art, especially the decorative arts, that was most popular between 1890 and 1910. A reaction to the art of the 19th century, it was inspired by natural forms and structures, particularly the curved lines of plants. English uses the French name Art Nouveau, according to the philosophy of the style, art should be a way of life. For many well-off Europeans, it was possible to live in an art nouveau-inspired house with art nouveau furniture, silverware, fabrics, ceramics including tableware, jewellery, cigarette cases, artists desired to combine the fine arts and applied arts, even for utilitarian objects. By 1910, Art Nouveau was already out of style and it was replaced as the dominant European architectural and decorative style first by Art Deco and then by Modernism. Art Nouveau took its name from the Maison de lArt Nouveau, in France, Art Nouveau was also sometimes called by the British term Modern Style due to its roots in the Arts and Crafts Movement, Style moderne, or Style 1900. It was also sometimes called Style Jules Verne, Le Style Métro, Art Belle Époque, in Belgium, where the architectural movement began, it was sometimes termed Style nouille or Style coup de fouet. In Britain, it was known as the Modern Style, or, because of the arts and crafts movement led by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow, as the Glasgow style. In Italy, because of the popularity in Italy of designs from Londons Liberty & Co department store, in the United States, due to its association with Louis Comfort Tiffany, it was often called the Tiffany style. In Germany and Scandinavia, a style emerged at about the same time, it was called Jugendstil. In Catalonia the related style was known as Modernisme, in Spain as Modernismo, Arte joven, in Russia, it was called Modern, and Jugendstil, and Nieuwe Kunst in the Netherlands. Some names refer specifically to the forms that were popular with the Art Nouveau artists, Stile Floreal in France, Paling Stijl in the Netherlands. The new art movement had its roots in Britain, in the designs of William Morris. Early prototypes of the include the Red House of Morris. In France, the style combined several different tendencies, in architecture, it was influenced by the architectural theorist and historian Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, a declared enemy of the historical Beaux-Arts architectural style. For each function its material, for each material its form and this book influenced a generation of architects, including Louis Sullivan, Victor Horta, Hector Guimard, and Antoni Gaudí. The French painters Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard played an important part in integrating fine arts painting with decoration, I believe that before everything a painting must decorate, Denis wrote in 1891. The choice of subjects or scenes is nothing and it is by the value of tones, the colored surface and the harmony of lines that I can reach the spirit and wake up the emotions
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Ernst Barlach
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Ernst Barlach was a German expressionist sculptor, printmaker and writer. This created many conflicts during the rise of the Nazi Party, Barlach was born in Wedel, Holstein as the oldest of the four sons of Johanna Luise Barlach and Dr Georg Barlach. He attended primary school in Ratzeburg and it was during this period that his father died, early in 1884. He came from a Lutheran home, Barlach studied from 1888 to 1891 at the Gewerbeschule Hamburg. Due to his talent, he continued his studies at the Königliche Akademie der bildenden Künste zu Dresden as a student of Robert Diez between 1891 and 1895. He created his first major sculpture during this time, Die Krautpflückerin and he continued his studies for one more year in Paris at the Académie Julian, from 1895 to 1897 but remained critical of the German tendency to copy the style of French artists. Nevertheless, he returned to Paris again for a few months in 1897 to undertake further studies, after his studies, Barlach worked for some time as a sculptor in Hamburg and Altona, working mainly in an Art Nouveau style. He produced illustrations for the Art Nouveau magazine Jugend 1897–1902, and made sculpture in a close to Art Nouveau. Afterwards, he worked as a teacher at a school for ceramics. His first solo exhibition took place at the Kunstsalon Richard Mutz, however, the lack of commercial success of his works depressed Barlach. To lighten up, he decided to travel for eight weeks together with his brother Nikolaus and this trip to Russia in 1906 was one of the greatest influences on him and his artistic style. Also during his travels in Russia his son Nikolaus was born on 20 August 1906, starting a fight with the mother, Rosa Schwab, for the custody of the child. After returning from Russia, Barlachs financial situation improved considerably, as he received a salary from the art dealer Paul Cassirer in exchange for his sculptures. He also worked for the German journal Simplicissimus, and started to produce some literature and his works were shown on various exhibitions. He also spent ten months in Florence, Italy in 1909 and afterwards settled in 1910 in Güstrow in Mecklenburg, in the years before World War I, Barlach was a patriotic and enthusiastic supporter of the war, awaiting a new artistic age from the war. This support for the war can also be seen in his works, as for example the statue Der Rächer and his awaited new artistic age came for him when he volunteered to join the war between 1915 and 1916 as an infantry soldier. After three months of service he was discharged due to an ailment, returning as a pacifist. The horror of the war influenced all of his subsequent works, Barlachs fame increased after the war, and he received many awards and became a member in the prestigious Preußische Akademie der Künste in 1919 and the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München in 1925
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Augustus III of Poland
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The only legitimate son of Augustus II of Poland, he followed his father’s example by joining the Roman Catholic Church in 1712. In 1719 he married Maria Josepha, daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Joseph I, chosen king by a small minority of electors on 5 October 1733, he drove his rival, the former Polish king Stanisław I, into exile. He was crowned in Kraków on 17 January 1734, and was recognised as king in Warsaw in June 1736. Augustus gave Saxon support to Austria against Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession and his last years were marked by the increasing influence of the Czartoryski and Poniatowski families, and by the intervention of Catherine the Great in Polish affairs. His rule deepened the anarchy in Poland and increased the dependence on its neighbours. The reign of Augustus witnessed one of the greatest periods of disorder in Polish history, Augustus was the only legitimate son of Augustus II the Strong, Prince-Elector of Saxony and king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth who belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin. His mother was Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, groomed to succeed his father as king of Poland, Augustus converted to Catholicism in 1712, when publicly announced, this caused discontent among the Protestant Saxon aristocracy. Upon the death of Augustus II in 1733, Augustus inherited the Saxon electorate and was elected to the Polish throne, with the support of the Russian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. He was opposed by the forces of Stanisław I Leszczyński, who had usurped the throne with Swedish support during the Great Northern War, reigning from 1706 until 1709, Stanisław was overthrown after the Swedish defeat at Poltava. As King, Augustus was uninterested in the affairs of his Polish–Lithuanian dominion, focusing instead on hunting, the opera, Augustus delegated most of his powers and responsibilities in the Commonwealth to Heinrich von Brühl, who served in effect as the viceroy of Poland. Augustuss eldest surviving son, Frederick Christian of Saxony, succeeded his father as Elector, a Russian-supported coup détat in Poland, instigated by the Czartoryskis, resulted in the election of Stanisław August Poniatowski as king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania on 7 September 1764. August was portrayed by Ernst Dernburg in the 1941 film Friedemann Bach, in Dresden on 20 August 1719, Augustus married Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria, the eldest child of Joseph I, the Holy Roman Emperor. Bachs title of Koeniglicher Pohlnischer Hoff Compositeur is engraved on the page of Bachs famous Goldberg Variations. History of Saxony History of Poland Rulers of Saxony List of Lithuanian rulers Dresden Castle – Residence of Augustus III Bach, Johann Sebastian, Mass in B Minor, Cue points, Oregon Bach festival
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Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet
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In 1942, the British Cabinet agreed to the area bombing of German cities. Harris was tasked with implementing Churchills policy and supported the development of tactics, Harris emigrated to Southern Rhodesia in 1910, aged 17, but returned to England in 1915 to fight in the European theatre of the First World War. At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Harris took command of No.5 Group RAF in England and he retained that position for the rest of the war. After the war Harris moved to South Africa where he managed the South African Marine Corporation, Harris was born on 13 April 1892, at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, where his parents were staying while his father George Steel Travers Harris was on home leave from the Indian Civil Service. A former Allhallows student, the actor Arthur Chudleigh, often visited the school, Harris received such a ticket in 1909, and went to see the play during his summer holidays. The lead character in the show was a Rhodesian farmer who returned to England to wed, harriss father was disappointed, having had in mind a military or civil service career for his son, but reluctantly agreed. In early 1910, Harris senior paid his sons passage on the SS Inanda to Beira in Mozambique, Harris earned his living over the next few years mining, coach-driving and farming. Harris quickly gained his employers trust, and was made manager at Lowdale when Townsend went to visit England for a year in early 1914. Having acquired the necessary to ranch successfully in Rhodesia, Harris decided that he would start his own farm in the country as soon as Townsend returned. According to Probert, Harris by now regarded primarily as a Rhodesian. When the First World War broke out in August 1914, Harris did not learn of it for nearly a month, having learnt to bugle at Allhallows, he successfully applied for the bugler slot and was sworn in on 20 October 1914. The 1st Rhodesia Regiment briefly garrisoned Bloemfontein, then served alongside the South African forces in South-West Africa during the first half of 1915. When the South-West African Campaign ended in July 1915, the 1st Rhodesia Regiment was withdrawn to Cape Town, Harris sailed for England from Beira at the Company administrations expense in August, a member of a 300-man party of white Southern Rhodesian war volunteers. 45 Squadron, flying the Sopwith 1½ Strutter and Sopwith Camel, before he returned to Britain to command No.44 Squadron on Home Defence duties, Harris claimed five enemy aircraft destroyed and was awarded the Air Force Cross on 2 November 1918. Intending to return to Rhodesia one day, Harris wore a shoulder flash on his uniform. He finished the war a major, in April 1920 Squadron Leader Harris was jointly appointed station commander of RAF Digby and commander of No.3 Flying Training School. He later served in different functions in India, Mesopotamia and Persia and he said of his service in India that he first became involved in bombing during the usual annual North West Frontier tribesmen trouble. In Mesopotamia he commanded a Vickers Vernon squadron and we cut a hole in the nose and rigged up our own bomb racks and I turned those machines into the heaviest and best bombers in the command
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Bombing of Dresden in World War II
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The bombing and the resulting firestorm destroyed over 1,600 acres of the city centre. An estimated 22,700 to 25,000 people were killed, three more USAAF air raids followed, two occurring on 2 March aimed at the citys railroad marshaling yard and one small raid on 17 April aimed at industrial areas. Immediate German propaganda claims following the attacks and post-war discussions on whether the attacks were justified has led to the bombing becoming one of the moral causes célèbres of the war. Several researchers have asserted that not all of the infrastructure, such as the bridges, was targeted. Large variations in the death toll have fueled the controversy. In March 1945, the German government ordered its press to publish a falsified casualty figure of 200,000 for the Dresden raids, and death toll estimates as high as 500,000 have been given. The city authorities at the time estimated no more than 25,000 victims, the Red Army had launched their Silesian Offensives into pre-war German territory. The German army was retreating on all fronts, but still resisting strongly, on 8 February 1945, the Red Army crossed the Oder River, with positions just 70 km from Berlin. Alternatively, the report warned that the Germans might hold out until November if they could prevent the Soviets from taking Silesia, hence, any assistance provided to the Soviets on the Eastern Front could shorten the war. At the time of bombing, the Soviets were conducting their Lower Silesian Offensive, plans for a large and intense aerial bombing of Berlin and the other eastern cities had been discussed under the code name Operation Thunderclap in mid-1944, but had been shelved on 16 August. These were now re-examined, and the decision was made to draw up a limited operation. That evening Churchill asked the Secretary of State for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair and he mentioned that aircraft diverted to such raids should not be taken away from the current primary tasks of destroying oil production facilities, jet aircraft factories, and submarine yards. Pray report to me tomorrow what is going to be done, attacks there, where main railway junctions, telephone systems, city administration and utilities were located, would result in chaos. Ostensibly, Britain had learned this after the Coventry Blitz, when loss of this crucial infrastructure had supposedly longer-lasting effects than attacks on war plants. In response, Chief of the British Air Staff Portal, who was in Yalta, bottomleys list included oil plants, tank and aircraft factories and the cities of Berlin and Dresden. Dresden was Germanys seventh-largest city and, according to the RAF at the time, nonetheless, according to some historians, the contribution of Dresden to the German war effort may not have been as significant as the planners thought. The US Air Force Historical Division wrote a report in response to the concern about the bombing - the report remained classified until December 1978. This said that there were 110 factories and 50,000 workers in the city supporting the German war effort at the time of the raid and it also said there were barracks, hutted camps, and a munitions storage depot
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Winston Churchill
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Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD PC DL FRS RA was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his overall, in 1963, he was the first of only eight people to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. Churchill was born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough and his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, his mother, Jennie Jerome, was an American socialite. As a young officer, he saw action in British India, the Anglo–Sudan War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and wrote books about his campaigns, at the forefront of politics for fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, during the war, he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He then briefly resumed active service on the Western Front as commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government under Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister and he led Britain as Prime Minister until victory over Nazi Germany had been secured. After the Conservative Party suffered a defeat in the 1945 general election. He publicly warned of an Iron Curtain of Soviet influence in Europe, after winning the 1951 election, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His second term was preoccupied by foreign affairs, including the Malayan Emergency, Mau Mau Uprising, Korean War, domestically his government laid great emphasis on house-building. Churchill suffered a stroke in 1953 and retired as Prime Minister in 1955. Upon his death aged ninety in 1965, Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral and his highly complex legacy continues to stimulate intense debate amongst writers and historians. Born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the noble Spencer family, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, like his father. His ancestor George Spencer had changed his surname to Spencer-Churchill in 1817 when he became Duke of Marlborough, to highlight his descent from John Churchill, Churchill was born on 30 November 1874, two months prematurely, in a bedroom in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. From age two to six, he lived in Dublin, where his grandfather had been appointed Viceroy, Churchills brother, John Strange Spencer-Churchill, was born during this time in Ireland
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Blue Onion
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Blue Onion is a fine porcelain tableware pattern for dishware originally manufactured by Meissen porcelain since the 18th century, but copied by other companies since the late 19th century as well. The onion pattern was named the bulb pattern. Among the earliest Chinese examples are underglaze blue and white porcelains of the early Ming Dynasty, the Meissen painters created hybrids that resembled flora more familiar to Europeans. The so-called onions are not onions at all, but, according to historians, are most likely mutations of the peaches and pomegranates modeled on the original Chinese pattern, before the end of the 18th century, other porcelain factories were copying the Meissen Zwiebelmuster. In the 19th century almost all the European manufactories offered a version, enoch Wedgwoods pattern in the 1870s was even known as Meissen. Today a Japanese version called Blue Danube features among the hundred most popular tableware patterns, while the design most likely originated from an east Asian model, probably Chinese, it also demonstrates that the manner of strictly abstract stylization has a European influence. The onion pattern was designed as a white ware decorated with blue underglaze pattern. Some rare dishes have a green, red, pink, or black pattern instead of the cobalt blue, a very rare type is called red bud because there are red accents on the blue-and-white dishes. Zwiebelmuster aus Dubi Czech Homepage Meissen Porcelain A Brief History of Meissen Dinnerware
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Tableware
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Tableware is the dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining. It includes cutlery, glassware, serving dishes and other items for practical as well as decorative purposes. The quality, nature, variety and number of objects according to culture, religion, number of diners, cuisine. For example, Middle Eastern, Indian or Polynesian food culture and cuisine sometimes limits tableware to serving dishes, special occasions are usually reflected in higher quality tableware. Sets of dishes are referred to as a service, dinner service or service set. Table settings or place settings are the dishes, cutlery and glassware used for formal and informal dining, in Ireland such items are normally referred to as delph, the word being an English language phonetic spelling of the word delft, the town from which so much delftware came. Silver service or butler service are methods for a butler or waiter to serve a meal, Setting the table refers to arranging the tableware, including individual place settings for each diner at the table as well as decorating the table itself in a manner suitable for the occasion. Tableware and table decoration is more elaborate for special occasions. Unusual dining locations demand tableware be adapted, dishes are usually made of ceramic materials such as earthenware, stoneware, faience, bone china or porcelain. However, they can be made of materials such as wood, pewter, silver, gold, glass. Before it was possible to purchase mass-produced tableware, it was fashioned from available materials, industrialisation and developments in ceramic manufacture made inexpensive washable tableware available. It is sold either by the piece or as a set for a number of diners, normally four, six, eight. Large quantities are purchased for use in restaurants, individual pieces, such as those needed as replacement pieces for broken dishes, can be procured from open stock inventory at shops, or from antique dealers if the pattern is no longer in production. Possession of tableware has to a large extent been determined by individual wealth, the greater the means, the higher was the quality of tableware that was owned and the more numerous its pieces. In the London of the 13th century, the more affluent citizens owned fine furniture and silver, while those of straiter means possessed only the simplest pottery and kitchen utensils. By the later 16th century, even the poorer citizens dined off pewter rather than wood and had plate, jars, the nobility often used their arms on heraldic china. Table decoration may be ephemeral and consist of items made from confectionery or wax - substances commonly employed in Roman banqueting tables of the 17th century, in modern times, ephemeral table decorations continue to be made from sugar or carved from ice. In wealthy countries such as 17th century France, table decorations for the aristocracy were made of silver
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