Gosudarstvennyi muzei-zapovednik "Tsarskoe Selo", Katalog kollektsii, tom III, kniga 1, Kholodnoe klinkovoe oruzhie aziatskoi komnaty (State Museum Preserve Tsarskoe Selo. Catalogue of the collections, vol. 3, book 1: Oriental blade weapons from the Asian Room)
St. Petersburg, Pushkin: Tsarskoe Selo, 2020. Sewn pb. Many reigning members of the imperial family were avid collectors of arms as trophies of war, examples of a highly developed applied art, and integral parts of military dress — Peter the Great, Anna Ioannovna, Elizaveta Petrovna, Peter III, Catherine the Great, Paul, Nicholas I, and Alexander II. They acquired and commissioned arms, and devoted prominent interior space in palace residences to displaying their collections. In this collection catalogue, the authors and curators explain how the Tsarskoe Selo Palace-Museum ended up with such a rich collection of Asian arms. Among works published here are 118 blade weapons, which originated in Turkey, Ottoman Albania, Persia, India, the Caucasus, Russia and Poland. Among the most informative visual documents are watercolors of the interiors where Alexander II displayed his arms collection in elegant and inventive ways. Archival photographs of the early twentieth century further demonstrate the arms collections as artistic displays. Sharp photography and high-quality printing show off details of the works and bring out their extraordinary artistry and kinship with jewelry. In catalogue entries the authors provide the usual cataloguing data — place of origin, date, materials, techniques, preservation, provenance, inscriptions (in original language and translation) — and also note historical events or personages that the work may be related to. Bibliography, archival sources, index of donors, and list of exhibitions enhance the catalogue as a source on Asian arms and the history of collecting. The works fall into three categories: sabers and broadswords (shashki), yatagans, daggers and knives. 312 p., 27 cm, approx. 150 color illus., Rus. Item #4095
ISBN: 9785905967122
Run: 300.
Price: $136.00