European ceramics

By Robin Hildyard

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Book for 2000 The history of ceramics is extraordinarily diverse, ranging from crude clay utensils to highly decorative pieces of immense beauty... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1851772596
• ISBN13: 9781851772599
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: V & a Publications
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.6" x 0.0" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

I have mixed feelings about this book

I had hoped that this book would have a lot of color pictures of high end porcelain. It does and is reasonably priced. I checked it out of the library as one of the books I was considering buying to have examples of fine European china. For someone looking for detailed text covering the period with a few photo examples the same author has another book focusing on English Pottery 1620-1840. But look at a copy first as it seems overpriced. Personally I ended up buying The Art of Ceramics-European Ceramic Design 1500-1830 because it covers English and European porcelain with history and a lot of pictures. Many of the pieces in the book are also shown in the more expensive books. European Ceramics and The Art of Ceramics have a lot in common and you won't be disappointed with either.

A Wonderful Overview

This is one of my favorite ceramics books. It has such nice photos and even some historical prints (of the ceramics in use) to give context to certain types of work. If you are looking for a specific type of European style (say Saltglaze ware or Majolica), this might not be the best book since it doesn't really go too in depth in any particular style, but it a fabulous overview hitting on many different styles of ceramics that have emanated from Europe since about the 13th century (I think that is about when it starts). This is definitely a "must have" for anyone interested in researching historical ceramics from a visual standpoint. I keep it on the table in my studio for non-stop inspiration.