Displaying items by tag: imperial

During the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Augsburg, Germany enjoyed a cultural golden age. Situated at the confluence of two large rivers and near important Alpine passes, Augsburg had thrived on trade with Italy and enjoyed the influence of the Italian Renaissance. It was the home of two leading banking families, the Fuggers and Welsers, both of whom repeatedly made crucial loans to the often cash-strapped Habsburg emperors. Indeed, the Houses of Fugger and Welser were to the Emperors Maximilian I and Charles V what the House of Rothschild would be to the 19th-century governments of Europe. Consequently the grateful imperial favor bestowed upon Augsburg nurtured the city’s fine arts.

A window on the private world of China’s Ming and Qing emperors opens october 18, when some 200 works — portraits, costumes, and palace furnishings such as bronzes, lacquerware, and jade—drawn from the holdings of the Palace Museum in Beijing go on view at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition surveys the seminal role of imperial rituals and religion in the Forbidden City, along with hidden aspects of court life from the mid 14th through early 19th centuries.

The fourth edition of Art Antiques London will open on June 13, 2013 at Kensington Gardens in London. The show attracts collectors, curators, and exhibitors from across the globe and presents everything from furniture, paintings, and jewelry to sculpture, ceramics, and silver. This year, Art Antiques London is happy to welcome a number of new international exhibitors including Roell Fine Art (The Netherlands), Sabbadini (Italy), and Christopher Perles (France).

The fair, which is held through June 19, 2013, includes a private viewing on June 12, a collectors’ dinner on June 13, and a lecture series, which will feature a talk on Russian Imperial porcelain and sculptures led by Dr. Ekaterina Khmelnitskaya, the curator of Russian porcelain at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg Russia.  

Art Antiques London is organized by Haughton International Fairs. For more information visit http://www.haughton.com/international-fairs/19/fair_pages/art-antiques-london.