First US edition. 28x215mm 320 pages with index. 32 color 230 black and white illustrations. Small date and name to rear endpage. Cloth. Very good indeed in like dustjacket. This book, a companion volume to Hugh Honour's Cabinet Makers and Furniture Designers, consists of 50 studies of Goldsmiths and silversmiths of 10 nations and 11 centuries. -- by investigating the lives of individuals, the author has been able to indicate the social standing of craftsmen in different countries and periods, showing how the goldsmith gradually lost his mediaeval position as the most highly esteemed of all artists and sank to the level of an artisan. He suggests how craftsmen were affected by economic pressure, especially in the early Renaissance, when several who began their careers as Goldsmiths became, and achieved more lasting famous painters or sculptors.

Goldsmiths Silversmiths Antiques