A new survey of the life, creative spirit, and career of Robert W. Ebendorf, one of America's most important artists in the field of found-object jewelry and metalwork.

Robert Ebendorf (b. 1938) has been one of the most influential artists in the studio jewelry movement from its beginning in the 1960s to today. His work combines exceptional craftsmanship, acquired through traditional training in gold- and silversmithing, with the inventive use of found objects and other alternative materials such as acrylic and ColorCore. Objects of Affection traces his development from the Scandinavian modernism of his early work to his first use of found objects such as tintype photographs in the 1960s; juxtapositions of colored acrylic and precious metals in the 1970s; use of found newspaper and other textual elements in the 1980s; his pivotal incorporation of animal parts in the 1990s; and the remixing and further development of many of these approaches in the twenty-first century.

Unique features of this highly collectable volume are its special focus on Ebendorf’s work of the last two decades, his friendship with collectors Ron Porter and Joe Price, and his activities during his time in North Carolina. Also of note are the inclusion of selected works by graduates and faculty of East Carolina University (ECU) jewelry program that Ebendorf led from 1997 to 2016; preparatory sketches by Ebendorf; and collages included by him in many of the letters and postcards he has written over the course of his career. Many of these letters feature printed ephemera, in addition to sketches. And it is this ephemeral and archival aspect of the PorterˑPrice Collection which sets it apart from other publications on Ebendorf’s work.

A timely look at the economic revolution that took place in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

The rise of the monetary economy transformed every aspect of medieval Europe, including its values and culture. Medieval Money explores the ways art reflected and reinforced the complex ethical discussions that developed from the widespread role of money in everyday life in the Middle Ages. It traces the origins of global money, and surveys economic history, focusing on the environment, the plague, Jews, and institutions, using a wealth of imagery including illuminated manuscripts, coins, artworks, money chests, and account books.

The iconography, minting, and foreign exchange of coins are examined, and the choice that Christians faced is investigated: should they save their money or their soul? The authors explore images of Avarice, the greedy punished in hell, and immoral ways to earn and spend money, and analyze representations of charity and voluntary poverty. Final chapters examine the material culture of the monetary economy (from an illuminated oath for minters to purses and lockboxes) and images of medieval money management.

A significant addition to the fascinating study of rare and intriguing late 18th- and early 19th-century eye miniatures.

Until the early 2000s, little had been written about eye miniatures or “Lover's Eyes”, and their short-lived popularity at the end of the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-centuries, when hand-painted portraits of single human eyes were set in jewelry, or created to memorialize a deceased loved one. This volume examines their role in the broader context of Georgian and early Victorian portrait miniatures; and looks in detail at the creation, and appeal, of these extraordinary objects. 

Dr and Mrs. David A. Skier’s collection of eye miniatures is one of the most complete collections of this genre of miniature painting in existence. This volume features over 130 pieces from the Skier Collection, with 36 extraordinary newly acquired pieces, including two of the three known existing “Lover's Lips”, and six examples of a delightful sub-category known as “Flower Eyes”. There are illustrated essays on forgeries and fakes of lovers’ eyes, on “Flower Eyes”, on the persistence of the eye image which continues the tradition of lovers’ eyes, and an essay on the eye miniatures created by Richard Cosway.

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was one of the greatest portrait artists of his time. While he is best known for his powerful paintings, he largely ceased painting portraits in 1907 and turned instead to charcoal drawings to satisfy portrait commissions. These drawn portraits represent a substantial, yet often overlooked, part of his practice, and they demonstrate the same sense of immediacy, psychological sensitivity, and mastery of chiaroscuro that animate Sargent’s sitters on canvas. This volume presents over sixty superb portrait drawings, showcasing sitters famous for their roles in politics, society, and the arts. It also explores the friendships and the networks of patronage that underpinned Sargent’s practice as a portrait draftsman in Edwardian Britain and Progressive Era America.