Research Catalog

Title

The hand of the master : craftsmanship, ivory, and society in Byzantium (9th-11th centuries) / Anthony Cutler.

Author

Cutler, Anthony, 1934-

Publication

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©1994.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xv, 293 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color); 26 cm

Summary

• This book is the first detailed study in fifty years of Byzantine ivory carving in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the era when work in that medium reached its highest level of attainment. Unique in its aim and range, The Hand of the Master considers how, when, and why the Byzantines used ivory for icons and other luxurious items. Based on direct study of the objects, the book discusses more than 150 pieces and is illustrated with new photographs that are indispensable to an understanding of carving techniques and styles.
• Cutler analyzes the normal working methods of Byzantine carvers, as well as aspects of craftsmanship that enable us to identify distinct hands. These observations are then made the basis of both a revised chronology and a more rigorous system of classification than has existed heretofore. But the recognition of particular sculptors is a means rather than an end in this book. Similarities and differences within this huge body of production allow answers to such broader questions as the functions of craftsmen in this society, their relations with clients and designers, and, ultimately, the significance of ivory in the visual culture of Byzantium.

Subject

• Ivories, Byzantine
• Ivoor
• Byzantijnse kunst
• Ivory carving > Byzantine Empire
• Christian art and symbolism > Byzantine Empire
• Christian antiquities > Byzantine Empire
• Byzantine antiquities
• Ivoires médiévaux > Empire byzantin
• Sculpture sur ivoire > Empire byzantin > Moyen âge
• Ivoires > Turquie > Constantinople
• Sculpture byzantine

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

The Power of Ivory -- The Modern Response -- The Byzantine Response -- Varieties of Experience -- Conditions of Production -- The Quantity and Quality of Ivory -- "Colonial" Tusks and Domestic Bone -- The Question of Workshops -- Stages of Production -- Cutting the Panel -- An Excursus on Tools -- From Panel to Plaque -- Carving the Figures -- Detailing -- Finishing and Assembling -- The Master in Context -- Craftsman, Designer, Client -- Artistic Identity in Byzantium -- Signs of the Master -- The Guidance of the Hodegetria -- Problems of Classification and Chronology -- "Groups" and Individuals -- Toward a History: Datable Works and Minimal Clusters -- The Implications of Contemporaneity -- Ivory in Byzantium Society -- Users and Uses -- The Culture of the Clientele.

ISBN

• 0691033668
• 9780691033662

LCCN

93014332

OCLC

• ocm28334330
• 28334330
• SCSB-9678454

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library