Typically carved in stone, the cylinder seal is perhaps the most distinctive art form to emerge in ancient Mesopotamia. It spread across the Near East from ca. 3300 BCE onwards, and remained in use for millennia. What was the role of this intricate object in the making of a person's social identity? As the first comprehensive study dedicated to this question, Selves Engraved on Stoneexplores the ways in which different but often intersecting aspects of identity, such as religion, gender, community and profession, were constructed through the material, visual, and textual characteristics of seals from Mesopotamia and Syria.

Selves Engraved on Stone explores the ways in which multiple aspects of identity were constructed through the material, visual, and textual characteristics of personal seals from ancient Mesopotamia and Syria in the latter half of the 2nd millennium BCE.

Everything you need to know about entering the exciting and lucrative field of Natural Stone Engraving. Using the sandblasting method, Randi Hodges walks you through everything you need to know about the art and the markets for Natural Stone Engraving.

Based on first-hand historical materials, this book explores the various aspects of literary communication during the Song Dynasty in China. The book investigates the single-channel dissemination of poetry and ci works, the dissemination of literary collections, the dissemination through wall inscriptions, the oral dissemination of Song ci, the remuneration and commercialization of literature in the Song Dynasty, the paths to fame for Song writers, the non-literary factors in the dissemination of literature and the dissemination of literary works through paintings and songs. The author provides insights into the six major questions in the study of literary communication: Who disseminates, where, how, what, to whom and the effects of dissemination. The author also seeks to provide detailed answers to the following questions. What was the role of female singers in both domestic and official entertainment? What were the costs and prices of the books? Who paid the authors? What methods did writers use to gain fame and social recognition? This work will be essential reading for scholars and students of Chinese studies, communication studies and media and cultural studies.

In Taoism and Self Knowledge, Catherine Despeux develops a history of the "Chart for the Cultivation of Perfection" a text containing an array of meditative techniques for individual salvation and thunder rites. This chart was transmitted widely among Taoists in Quanzhen tradition.

- Unusual approach to Cameos and Intaglios - Highly visual with archive material, preparatory drawings, photos and paintings - Includes 10 gate-fold pages This book is designed for the exhibition of the collection of Mr. Guy Ladrière, which will be presented by the School of Jewelery Arts in October 2021, under the commission of Mr. Philippe Malgouyres, chief curator of heritage in the art department of the Louvre. Widely illustrated and documented, this book will constitute a genuine introductory manual to the art of glyptics, thanks to its chrono-thematic approach to the history of engraved stones in the West. The author reveals a whole world in miniature, fascinating kings and emperors as much as collectors and art lovers. With materials with subtle engraved effects, cameos (relief engraving) and intaglios (intaglio engraving) have come down to us as jewels or relics, thus following all the themes of the History of Art: mythologies, symbols, portraits, allegories, etc.