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Japanese region in Buzen Province (now part of Fukuoka Prefect.), northern Kyushu, where stonewares were manufactured at various sites from c. 1600 (see also Japan, §IX, 3, (i), (d)).

The first potter to make Agano ware was the Korean master Chon’gye (Jap. Sonkai; 1576–1654). Deported to Kyushu during one of the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597, he entered the service of Hosokawa Tadaoki (1563–1645), the newly appointed governor of Buzen. On the completion of Tadaoki’s fortress at Kokura (now Kitakyushu), Chon’gye built the Saienba kiln, probably within the castle precincts. A site thought to be Saienba was found beneath Myōkōji, the temple that replaced the castle in 1679, and excavations took place between 1979 and 1983. Sherds of both tea ceremony and everyday wares have been found there; they have transparent glazes made with a wood-ash flux, opaque glazes made with a straw-ash flux or brown-black glazes pigmented with iron oxide. Inscriptions on surviving pieces and entries in contemporary diaries indicate that these early products were also called Buzen or Kokura ware. After a few years the Saienba kiln closed, and ...

[‛Alawī; Filālī]

Islamic dynasty and rulers of Morocco since 1631. Like their predecessors the Sa‛dis, the ‛Alawis are sharīfs (descendants of the Prophet Muhammad), and both dynasties are sometimes classed together as the ‘Sharifs of Morocco’. From a base in the Tafilalt region of south-east Morocco, the ‛Alawi family was able to overcome the centrifugal forces exerted by the Berber tribes who had destroyed the Sa‛di state in the first half of the 17th century. To restore political authority and territorial integrity, Mawlay Isma‛il (reg 1672–1727) added a new black slave corps to the traditional tribal army. Although royal power was weak during the 19th century and the early 20th, when the French and Spanish established protectorates, the ‛Alawis’ power was fully restored after independence from the French in 1956.

‛Alawi building activities (see Islamic art, §II, 7(v)) were concentrated in the four cities that have served as their capitals: Fez and Marrakesh at various times from ...

[Alvárez de Toledo] [now Berwick y Alba]

Spanish family of politicians and collectors. The prominent role of the Alvárez de Toledo family in the history of Spain and the dynastic marriages that have joined many other titles into the house of Berwick y Alba have placed the Alba collection among the finest in Europe. Don Fernando Alvárez de Toledo (1507–82), the ‘Gran-Duque’ de Alba, Governor of the Netherlands (from 1567), commissioned paintings from Anthonis Mor and Titian (General Pardon Conceded to Flanders by the Duque de Alba; Christ in the House of Martha; portrait of Don Fernando Alvárez de Toledo, Duque de Alba, in Armour; all Madrid, Pal. Liria, Col. Duke of Alba). His namesake, Don Fernando Alvárez de Toledo, the 6th duke, returned to Spain in 1653 from an embassy in Italy with a large shipment of works of art. The family collection, which included an impressive holding of tapestries, was housed in the palace of La Abadia in Extremadura and at the former ducal seat in Alba de Tormes....

[Fr. point d’Alençon]

Type of lace produced in France. In 1675 a group of 30 Venetian lacemakers was settled in the Norman town of Alençon by Jean-Baptiste Colbert (Louis XIV’s minister of finance). The Venetians instructed local needlewomen in point de Venise, but by the 1690s the distinctive local style known as point d’Alençon had emerged (see alsoLace §2, (iii), §2(iii)). Needlewomen adopted the net ground technique, and invented a series of new stitches.

Lace production was halted at the Revolution because of its association with the ancien régime, but revived under Napoleon (reg 1804–14) and again under the Second Empire. Lace is still produced in Alençon, supported by the Atelier National du Point d’Alençon founded in 1976, and there are good collections of Alençon lace in the Musée de la Dentelle au Point d’Alençon and the Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle.

The term point d’Alençon now denotes a style as well as a place of origin. The style is characterized by a uniform mesh (called the ...

French pottery manufactory in Le Castellet, near Apt (about 65 km north of Marseille) established in 1723 by César Moulin, who produced a distinctive marbled yellow-glazed pottery; the designs are modelled on English pottery (perhaps Wedgwood), and look more English than French. The success of this pottery encouraged others to open in and around Apt, which is still an important pottery centre....

Flemish (Belgian) family of collectors and patrons. The ancient county of Arenberg, situated between the duchy of Juliers, archbishopric of Cologne and county of Blankenheim, was raised to a principality in 1576 and a duchy in 1664. Members of the family played important roles in the politics of the Netherlands, France and Germany. Louis Engelbert, 5th Duke of Arenberg (1750–1820), made major acquisitions of prints and drawings, especially of views, towns and statues, during visits to France, Italy and Switzerland. He also acquired drawings by Lambert Lombard, 400 of which form part of the Arenberg Album (Liège, Cab. Est. & Dessins), and commissioned painters and sculptors. His brother, Auguste-Marie-Raymond, 6th Duke of Arenberg (1753–1833), was a connoisseur and a great bibliophile and was the first member of the family to create a gallery of paintings. By 1808 he had begun to purchase works of art at sales in Holland, London and Paris, as well as through such dealers as ...

[art consultant]

Paid adviser employed by collectors to recommend and facilitate the purchase of works of art. There is a long history of recruitment of art experts by wealthy patrons for advisery purposes. In the 18th century art historians such as Johann Joachim Winckelmann were actively advising leading collectors like Albani family §(2). In the early 20th century the English dealer Joseph Duveen earned a knighthood for his philanthropic efforts on behalf of British galleries. Enlisted by the so-called American Robber Barons for advice in forming collections, Duveen brokered the sale of many notable Old Masters from English aristocrats to American millionaires, including Henry Clay Frick, J. P. Morgan, Henry E. Huntington, and Andrew Mellon. Their collections ultimately formed the nuclei of many great American museums. Duveen’s contemporary Bernard Berenson was an American scholar and expert on Renaissance painting who turned his hand to art advising. Berenson assisted Isabella Stewart Gardner in forming her renowned collection of Renaissance art. His legacy as an academic is controversial thanks to his habit of accepting payment in exchange for favourable ...

Prior to the 20th century, the attribution of works of art was not governed by rigid regulations, and art dealers and auctioneers assigned attributions based purely on aesthetic grounds. Works were attributed to the artist whose manner they most closely resembled, but they were not further distinguished on the basis of quality; as a result, many paintings purchased as Renaissance masterpieces in the 18th or 19th century have since been downgraded to studio works or even much later pastiches.

Historically, the patrons who commissioned Old Masters placed a premium on subject-matter rather than originality, and popular narratives were requested by multiple patrons, creating conditions in which the demand for copies could flourish (see Copy). Popular compositions were often reproduced many times: by the master himself, an apprentice in his workshop, or even a later follower or imitator. A master trained his apprentices to approximate his manner as closely as possible, and sold the finished work under his own name. In some cases a master would paint the most important part of a work (such as the faces of the central figures) before delegating the rest to apprentices. Through the 19th century, pupils at prestigious institutions were taught by making copies of works by acknowledged masters. Many pieces, particularly drawings (which for much of their history were working tools, rather than art objects), were unsigned. Damaged or incomplete works of art were subjected to extensive restoration or reworking by later artists, a process that can cloud the question of attribution....

An expert with a specialization in a distinct category of fine or decorative arts or other collectables at an auction house, responsible for researching Attributions and setting pre-sale estimates. Specialized auctions of works of art were recorded in Amsterdam as early as 1608, when they emerged as a subcategory of after-death estate sales. It remains unclear whether or not items were appraised for value by dedicated appraisers, forerunners of modern-day auction house specialists, in order to set estimates prior to the sales.

The Auction as a sale process reached England from Holland in 1676, and the first auction of paintings in London took place in 1682. It was widely accepted that the paintings offered at auctions were luxury goods rather than masterpieces, and the ‘specialists’ in charge of sales bestowed attributions with a generous hand. By the end of the 17th century more educated and discerning specialists had begun to emerge, including Edward Davis and Parry Walton (...

[Cristallerie de Baccart]

French glassworks. In 1764 Monseigneur de Montmorency-Laval, Bishop of Metz, petitioned Louis XV to have a glassworks built at Baccarat, near Lunéville, in order to make use of his vast forests. The factory was initially directed by Antoine Renault and was called the Verreries de Sainte-Anne because Renault requested permission to build a chapel so that the workers could attend their religious obligations. At first the factory produced soda glass for household and industrial purposes. In 1816 it was purchased by the Belgian manufacturer Aimé-Gabriel D’Artigues (1778–1848), who transferred his Vôneche glassworks near Namur to Baccarat, built a new factory and began the production of lead glass. In 1823 the factory changed its name to the Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat and made plain crystal, opaline, and some alabaster and agate glass. In 1846 Baccarat began producing millefiori glassware and paperweights, followed by paperweights with flowers, fruits or reptiles. From ...

Italian family of glassmakers. The family are recorded as working in Murano, Venice, as early as 1324, when Iacobello Barovier and his sons Antonio Barovier and Bartolomeo Barovier (b Murano, ?1315; d Murano, ?1380) were working there as glassmakers. The line of descent through Viviano Barovier (b Murano, ?1345; d Murano, 1399) to Iacobo Barovier (b Murano, ?1380; d Murano, 1457) led to the more noteworthy Barovier family members of the Renaissance. Iacobo was responsible for public commissions in Murano from 1425 to 1450. From as early as 1420 he was a kiln overseer, with a determining influence on the fortunes of the Barovier family.

During the 15th century Iacobo’s sons, notably Angelo Barovier (b Murano, ?1400; d Murano, 1460), and his sons Giovanni Barovier, Maria Barovier, and Marino Barovier (b Murano, before 1431; d Murano, 1485) were important glassmakers. From as early as ...