5000 Years of Tiles

Amazon.com Price: $35.96 (as of 05/12/2019 12:39 PST- Details)

Description

A comprehensive, full-color exploration of tile art and production world wide, from earliest times to the present day. The book is both an authoritative work of reference and a visual delight, ranging from ancient Greece, where the first fired roof tiles date from as early as the third millennium BC, to twentieth-century Mexico. Along the way we encounter stunning examples of the tiler’s art: the enormous English medieval floor pavements from Byland Abbey and Clarendon Palace; figural tiles from China, intended to adorn roofs and thrust back evil; the famous Iznik tiles from the Islamic world, with their richly decorative patterns; the highly stylised ceramic tiles of the Arts and Crafts movement; and the tiles created by one of the finest ceramic artists and potters of the twenty-first century.

Placing the tiles firmly in their historical and cultural context, the book highlights both continuity and diversity, the dissemination of techniques and designs, and how tile art in one time and place has inspired and rejuvenated those in others. Tiles are also studied when it comes to function in addition to form, and the full range of architectural and practical purposes for which they have got been used – from floors to roofs, stoves to bathrooms, cathedrals to metro stations – will be explored, at the side of the more than a few techniques employed to create such versatile pieces. 5000 Years of Tiles is the very important, most comprehensive single volume for any person interested in the ceramic, decorative, and architectural arts.


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