Every so often, I am reminded of the reason that I do what I do. As a child I loved finding interesting and unusual things, I collected them to the point that my mother gave up attempting to manage or have me manage my bedroom – a wonderful (to me) and messy (to my mother) array of toys, coins, stamps, shells, mineral specimens, sports cards, posters, football stickers off of Chichita bananas,...
Frankart & Nuart: Innovators of Everyday Art Deco Design
Written on .
At Mark Lawson Antiques, we are endlessly excited to see the array of treasures folks bring in for evaluation. Though we are fortunate to see a potpourri of beautiful items every day, we take special delight in evaluating and buying Art Deco antiques of any kind. The form and style of Art Deco pieces are almost as popular now as when they first debuted in the 1920s. It is easy to understand why....
Chinese Export Silver: When East Meets West
Written on .
Chinese export silver goods are sought after by many collectors. They represent an unusual confluence of Western and Eastern design. Chinese export silver as a term refers to Chinese goods made from silver specifically for Western buyers.
Chinese Silver Toast Rack, circa 1820-1860
Early Trade Period
When trade began on a large scale between European nations and China (around 1745), Chinese artisans...
Art Deco: 1920s Filigree Jewelry
Written on .
Origin of Filigree
Filigree jewelry has long been popular, with found samples in southern Asia dating to a few thousand years old and gold filigree flourishing in the Fatimid era of Egypt. Originally, filigree was made with delicate threads of precious metals being hand-manipulated by jewelers into intricate designs. This process took a lot of time and required expert craftsman. This made filigree...
Opening at the Met: ‘The Art of London Firearms’
Written on .
Flintlock pistol, made by Wogdon & Barton.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is opening a new exhibit featuring exquisitely crafted firearms, highlighting the abilities of British gunmakers. The exhibit, entitled ‘The Art of London Firearms’, features seventeen separate firearms, each made in London. Instead of rifles and long guns, the focus will be on pistols dating from the mid-eighteenth...
The Remarkable Sand Art of Andrew Clemens
Written on .
When viewing a work of sand art by Andrew Clemens it is almost impossible to imagine how someone could create such a thing. To perfectly manipulate individual grains of sand in a bottle to illustrate words and images is unheard of. However, Andrew Clemens, a 19th century artist, mastered a technique to do just that, creating remarkable objects that are highly sought after today.
Born in Iowa in...
‘Thomas Cole’s Journey’ at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Written on .
On January 30th the exhibition Thomas Cole’s Journey Atlantic Crossings opened at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The exhibition celebrates one of America’s leading landscape painters, Thomas Cole (1801-1848), who first immigrated to the United States 200 years ago. He continued to cross the Atlantic multiple times, including a return journey to England in 1829-1831, a trip to Italy in 1831-1832,...
‘Alphonse Mucha: Master of Art Nouveau’ Opens at The Hyde Collection
Written on .
This past weekend The Hyde Collection opened the exhibition Alphonse Mucha: Master of Art Nouveau which is on view through March 18, 2018.
Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) was a Czechoslovakian artist who worked in Paris and established himself as a leader of the Art Nouveau movement. Preceding Art Deco, Art Nouveau was a visual, architectural, and decorative style popular from the late 1880s until the...