Customer Reviews

Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Porcelain

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This is a narrative history of porcelain, lavishly illustrated. It covers only porcelain, not other forms of ceramics. It focuses on wares that I would consider exclusively museum quality. The illustrations are gorgeous. The text is gracefully written and thoroughly informative. Although it is not arranged topically as a real encyclopedia would be, it does have a marvelous glossary at the end that is an education in itself. With the caveat that this is a narrative not a topical reference, I highly recommend this book.

This book discusses the variety of ways porcelain is made. It looks at the influence of Chinese porcelain on the European market and the evolution of techniques in Europe to mimic the results. Throughout there are good color photos to illustrate the text. Not only are the eras discussed but specific areas that became noted for their products. This is a nice book. I already have "The Art of Ceramics- European Ceramic Design 1500-1830" which covers the same thing and has more examples of highly decorated objects. Other competitive books that you might consider would be: The Dresden Porcelain Collection: China, Japan, Meissen (Masterpieces), The Ewers-Tyne Collection of Worcester Porcelain, and Chinese Export Porcelain in the Reeves Center Collection at Washington and Lee University. Sotheby's book gives an example or two of what the text discusses. Since all manufacturers produced a variety of designs you will have to decide if the general discussion satisfies you or you would like to view a cross section of designs- in which case one of these other books would be better.