Anna Beatriz Chadour Rings: The Alice and Louis Koch Collection. Forty Centuries seen by Four Generations.
Leeds, W.S. Maney and Son, 1994, Limited, Folio, Cloth & Slipcase, book condition: New, dust jacket condition: New. Catalogue bound in two hardback volumes in a slip-case. 736 pages including 16 plates (142 colour illus.), 627 pages with approx. 3900 colour illustrations and 5 pages of hallmarks with 166 b/w illustrations.
A richly-illustrated publication presenting for the first time a complete catalogue of the unique Alice and Louis Koch collection of finger rings which must surely be one of the most remarkable in existence. Rivalled only by the British Museum, and comprising 1,980 rings from over 4,000 years, this collection affords the scholar to an almost uninterrupted study of the evolution of ring shapes and design, providing new evidence for dating. Further, through this miniature art form historical events, religious practices, social customs and superstitions may be traced and identified. This sumptuous publication, in which lavish illustration and meticulous scholarship are combined, displays all 1,980 rings in full colour with at least two views. In addition there are 16 colour plates showing in dramatic enlargement over 140 selected items from the collection. The work is accessible for both German and English readers, with a description and critical commentary for each ring in German, accompanied by an English summary. The catalogue includes a glossary and indexes in both languages as well as an extensive bibliography. This important work is the culmination of six years of painstaking scholarship by the author, supported by the research of specialists world-wide, making this splendid collection available to historians of jewellery, of art, and of civilization, as well as to all those who simply delight in beautiful things.
Item nr: 3683