(via Economist) Q-Cells, based in Wolfen, just north of Leipzig, Germany, is the world's largest manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) cells used in solar panels + according to the environment ministry's latest report on the state of the industry, renewables now account for 6.7% of energy consumption, up from 5.5% in 2006 and 3.5% in 2003 + I think renewable-energy equipment (s) will become a big part of Germany's manufacturing industry, alongside cars and machine tools + the renewable-energy law, now known as the EEG, adopted in 1991, which encourages investment by cross-subsidising renewable electricity fed into the grid may speed up the rapid expansion of new clean technology in Germany + with 160 or more institutions doing research on solar technology, Germany may become the clean-tech industry giant of the world.
Useful links:
www.qcells.de
www.bmu.de
www.worldfuturecouncil.org
www.iset.uni-kassel.de
www.ersol.de
Sunday, April 06, 2008
How To Steal A Million
(via Wikipedia) How to Steal a Million (1966) is an art-heist movie, directed by William Wyler, starring Peter O'Toole as a suave art investigator and Audrey Hepburn as Nicole Bonnet, the daughter of genius art fraud Charles Bonnet (Hugh Griffith). The central theme of the movie is the recovery from a Parisian museum of a forged Cellini committed by Bonnet's grandfather, before its discovery and exposure as such, and is enlivened by the romantic angle between the characters played by O'Toole and Hepburn.
Useful link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060522
It's an elegant movie and I liked it.
Useful link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060522
It's an elegant movie and I liked it.
Beads, Briolettes And Rondelles
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
Beads, Briolettes and Rondellas have two features in common: a body covered all over with tiny facets, and the absence of a girdle by which gems are normally held in their settings (a few Girdled Briolletes do exist, but these are exceptions). The facets are usually triangular or squarish or, less frequently, long and narrow. Since they have no girdle, these diamonds are either drilled through from side to side or, in th case of Briolettes, downwards through the point. They are then threaded on wire or on a ring to hang on a chain. The type of piercing is dictated by the shape of the diamond and determines the use to which the stone will be put in a piece of jewelry.
The fashioning of diamond Beads, Briolettes and Rondellas was obviously inspired by the endless variety of such forms already in use thousands of years before Christ: ‘Perhaps the most convenient and welcome of all substitutes for currency was beads. Beads are the Adam and Eve of jewelry family and their countless progeny have spread over all the inhabited lands of the earth from the darkest jungles of Africa to the icebound countries of the far north. Beads were cherished in the magnificent courts of the Pharaohs, and they flourish today in the ‘five-and-tens’ of the New World. The jeweler of ancient times seems to have delighted in seeing how many different kinds of beads he could make. There were minute carved beads, balls of amethyst, and melon-shaped beads of limpid rock crystal, pale red carnelian beads shaped like an hour glass, and cynlindrical beads of green felspar....’
Beads, Briolettes and Rondellas have two features in common: a body covered all over with tiny facets, and the absence of a girdle by which gems are normally held in their settings (a few Girdled Briolletes do exist, but these are exceptions). The facets are usually triangular or squarish or, less frequently, long and narrow. Since they have no girdle, these diamonds are either drilled through from side to side or, in th case of Briolettes, downwards through the point. They are then threaded on wire or on a ring to hang on a chain. The type of piercing is dictated by the shape of the diamond and determines the use to which the stone will be put in a piece of jewelry.
The fashioning of diamond Beads, Briolettes and Rondellas was obviously inspired by the endless variety of such forms already in use thousands of years before Christ: ‘Perhaps the most convenient and welcome of all substitutes for currency was beads. Beads are the Adam and Eve of jewelry family and their countless progeny have spread over all the inhabited lands of the earth from the darkest jungles of Africa to the icebound countries of the far north. Beads were cherished in the magnificent courts of the Pharaohs, and they flourish today in the ‘five-and-tens’ of the New World. The jeweler of ancient times seems to have delighted in seeing how many different kinds of beads he could make. There were minute carved beads, balls of amethyst, and melon-shaped beads of limpid rock crystal, pale red carnelian beads shaped like an hour glass, and cynlindrical beads of green felspar....’
The Influence Of The Far East
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
These poetic paintings of night represent the extreme point of originality to which Whistler went. Particularities of scene and landscape exist in these nocturnes only as accessories; the real subject is the limpidity of the atmosphere, water illumined by the pale rays of the moon, mysterious shadows, the great silhouettes of dark nights, the darkness intensified sometimes by a splash of fireworks against the sky. Today, though Cremorne is no more, we can recognize the truth as well as the beauty in ‘Cremorne Lights’, for Whistler has now taught us to use our own experience in looking at these pictures of moonlight and lights reflected in the water. But at the time of their first appearance these nocturnes were incomprehensible to most people, who looked in them for topographical details which the veil of night would naturally conceal. In an eloquent and moving passage in his lecture, known as the ‘Ten o’Clock,’ Whistler afterwards explained what he saw and painted by the Thames at eventide:
When the evening mist clothes the riverside with poetry, as with a veil, and the poor buildings lose themselves in the dim sky, and the tall chimneys become campanili, and the warehouses are palaces in the night, and the whole city hangs in the heavens, and fairyland is before us—then the wayfarer hastens home; the working man and the cultured one, the wise man and the one of pleasure, cease to understand as they have ceased to see, and Nature, who, for once, has sung in tune, sings her exquisite song to the artist alone, her son and her master, her son in that he loves her, her master in that he knows her.
But in 1877 Whistler’s views on the poetry of night were unknown, and the magic of his brush could not immediately convert the public to appreciation of pictures the like of which had never before been seen in Europe. Something approaching them had been seen in Japan, as we may see by comparing Hokusai’s bridge pictures with those of Whistler, but Hokusai and Hiroshige were not known then as they are today. Whistler’s nocturnes were regarded by the majority as a smear of uniform color in which no distinct forms could be considered. The painter was looked upon as a charlatan and buffoon, and among those who attacked him, sad to relate, was the stout defender of Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites. John Ruskin, no wiser in this respect than the others, permitted himself to write the following in Fors Clavigera on July 2, 1877:
For Mr Whistler’s own sake, no less than for the protection of the purchaser, Sir Coutts Lindsay ought not to have admitted works into the gallery in which the ill-educated conceit of the artist so nearly approached the aspect of wilful imposture. I have seen, and heard, much of cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in thte public’s face.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
These poetic paintings of night represent the extreme point of originality to which Whistler went. Particularities of scene and landscape exist in these nocturnes only as accessories; the real subject is the limpidity of the atmosphere, water illumined by the pale rays of the moon, mysterious shadows, the great silhouettes of dark nights, the darkness intensified sometimes by a splash of fireworks against the sky. Today, though Cremorne is no more, we can recognize the truth as well as the beauty in ‘Cremorne Lights’, for Whistler has now taught us to use our own experience in looking at these pictures of moonlight and lights reflected in the water. But at the time of their first appearance these nocturnes were incomprehensible to most people, who looked in them for topographical details which the veil of night would naturally conceal. In an eloquent and moving passage in his lecture, known as the ‘Ten o’Clock,’ Whistler afterwards explained what he saw and painted by the Thames at eventide:
When the evening mist clothes the riverside with poetry, as with a veil, and the poor buildings lose themselves in the dim sky, and the tall chimneys become campanili, and the warehouses are palaces in the night, and the whole city hangs in the heavens, and fairyland is before us—then the wayfarer hastens home; the working man and the cultured one, the wise man and the one of pleasure, cease to understand as they have ceased to see, and Nature, who, for once, has sung in tune, sings her exquisite song to the artist alone, her son and her master, her son in that he loves her, her master in that he knows her.
But in 1877 Whistler’s views on the poetry of night were unknown, and the magic of his brush could not immediately convert the public to appreciation of pictures the like of which had never before been seen in Europe. Something approaching them had been seen in Japan, as we may see by comparing Hokusai’s bridge pictures with those of Whistler, but Hokusai and Hiroshige were not known then as they are today. Whistler’s nocturnes were regarded by the majority as a smear of uniform color in which no distinct forms could be considered. The painter was looked upon as a charlatan and buffoon, and among those who attacked him, sad to relate, was the stout defender of Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites. John Ruskin, no wiser in this respect than the others, permitted himself to write the following in Fors Clavigera on July 2, 1877:
For Mr Whistler’s own sake, no less than for the protection of the purchaser, Sir Coutts Lindsay ought not to have admitted works into the gallery in which the ill-educated conceit of the artist so nearly approached the aspect of wilful imposture. I have seen, and heard, much of cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in thte public’s face.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Heard On The Street
The best way to learn about market (s) is to be in a financial crisis like today's + the simplest answer to why market (s) went up yesterday is... they went up......and went down today is......they went down + markets are efficient, but not all the time, and we are living in such a time.
Interesting Facts
I found the information via Earthtrends very interesting:
- The most densely populated country in the world: Singapore, with 6,699 people per square kilometer (the global average is 51!).
- Country with lowest life expectancy: In Swaziland, the average person lives only 31.2 years.
- Country producing the most coal: China produces over one billion toe (tonnes of oil equivalent) of coal each year, nearly twice that of the second largest producer, the United States.
Useful link:
www.wri.org
- The most densely populated country in the world: Singapore, with 6,699 people per square kilometer (the global average is 51!).
- Country with lowest life expectancy: In Swaziland, the average person lives only 31.2 years.
- Country producing the most coal: China produces over one billion toe (tonnes of oil equivalent) of coal each year, nearly twice that of the second largest producer, the United States.
Useful link:
www.wri.org
Kevin Roberts
Kevin Roberts works with one of the best and famous advertising agency in the world, Saatchi & Saatchi + he is highly-regarded for his deep insight and creative mind + I have always liked his attraction-concept about people and marketing in business + connecting consumers through emotion--I think they are brilliant.
Useful links:
www.saatchikevin.com
www.saatchi.com
www.krconnect.blogspot.com
www.sisomo.com
www.lovemarks.com
Useful links:
www.saatchikevin.com
www.saatchi.com
www.krconnect.blogspot.com
www.sisomo.com
www.lovemarks.com
Middle Of The Market
I found the article @ http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5898.html interesting because there is a lot of useful info + lessons for the gem and jewelry industry.
Useful link:
Marketing Know: How
Useful link:
Marketing Know: How
Loans For Art Buyers
(via BBC) I was intrigued by the French government's measures to boost its flagging art market by providing interest-free loans to modest buyers to purchase works + according to the French Culture Minister Christine Albanel, the idea was to bring private individuals closer to this act of buying a work of art adding that the loan was the price, for example, of a flat-screen television.
Brilliant idea!
Useful links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7328012.stm
www.artprice.com
Brilliant idea!
Useful links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7328012.stm
www.artprice.com
Ileana Sonnabend Collections
Carol Vogel writes about the largest private sale of art collections belonging to Ileana Sonnabend, known to the art world as the world's most powerful dealer (s) in the 1960s and '70s + other viewpoints @ http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/04/arts/04vogel.php
Useful links:
www.gagosian.com
www.acquavellagalleries.com
www.lmgallery.com
www.gpspartners.com
Useful links:
www.gagosian.com
www.acquavellagalleries.com
www.lmgallery.com
www.gpspartners.com
Modern Spread Cuts
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The old Spread Cut Brilliants were the successors of the early Mirror Cuts and, like these, were inspired by the demands of fashion. If good proportions were possible, then of course the diamond would not be spread. But otherwise, depending on the irregularity of the rough, the final result might by anything from an overspread Brilliant to a mere trinket. Today most Brilliant Cut diamonds are Spread Cut, emphasizing brilliance at the expense of fire. Since they are produced commercially, the saving of weight is of major importance, even though this means that the light effects are considerably reduced, and despite the fact that a well-proportioned stone can be worth far more than a Spread Cut one, not to mention Fish-Eye.
Basil Watermeyer gives a splendid example of a Spread Cut. He states that such a diamond ‘will produce an equal flow of reflected light through table and crown facets.’ This total balance of light reflection can fool the eye into believing that the stone has life. When these proportions are used it is stressed that the stone is very sensitive to any change in the base angle of 41°. A 40¾° base angle will immediately produce a Fish-Eye and a 41¼° angle will produce a dull ‘inner circle.’
Another equally Spread Brilliant Cut was proposed by Parker in 1951. These figures conform with a crown angle of 25.5° and a pavilion angle of 40.9°. Oldendorff believed that Paker Cut might be quite attractive but ‘somewhat lax.’
Parker’s Spread Cut
Table size: 66.1%
Crown height: 8.1% - Angles: 25.5°
Pavilion depth: 43.35% - 40.9°
Watermeyer’s Spread Cut
Table size: 66.66%
Crown height: 11.5% - Angles: 33 - 34°
Pavilion depth: 43.5% - 41°
The old Spread Cut Brilliants were the successors of the early Mirror Cuts and, like these, were inspired by the demands of fashion. If good proportions were possible, then of course the diamond would not be spread. But otherwise, depending on the irregularity of the rough, the final result might by anything from an overspread Brilliant to a mere trinket. Today most Brilliant Cut diamonds are Spread Cut, emphasizing brilliance at the expense of fire. Since they are produced commercially, the saving of weight is of major importance, even though this means that the light effects are considerably reduced, and despite the fact that a well-proportioned stone can be worth far more than a Spread Cut one, not to mention Fish-Eye.
Basil Watermeyer gives a splendid example of a Spread Cut. He states that such a diamond ‘will produce an equal flow of reflected light through table and crown facets.’ This total balance of light reflection can fool the eye into believing that the stone has life. When these proportions are used it is stressed that the stone is very sensitive to any change in the base angle of 41°. A 40¾° base angle will immediately produce a Fish-Eye and a 41¼° angle will produce a dull ‘inner circle.’
Another equally Spread Brilliant Cut was proposed by Parker in 1951. These figures conform with a crown angle of 25.5° and a pavilion angle of 40.9°. Oldendorff believed that Paker Cut might be quite attractive but ‘somewhat lax.’
Parker’s Spread Cut
Table size: 66.1%
Crown height: 8.1% - Angles: 25.5°
Pavilion depth: 43.35% - 40.9°
Watermeyer’s Spread Cut
Table size: 66.66%
Crown height: 11.5% - Angles: 33 - 34°
Pavilion depth: 43.5% - 41°
The Influence Of The Far East
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
Whistler also painted a ‘Symphony in White No.III’; in this two girls, one in cream, one in white, recline on a white sofa, while a fan on the floor and the flowers of an azalea in a corner repeat the dominant whites. The motive of the artist in choosing these color schemes and calling the pictures ‘symphonies’ was at this time beyond the comprehension of even professional art critics, and one of them wrote of this picture in the Saturday Review:
In the ‘Symphony in White No.III’ by Mr Whistler there are many dainty varieties of tint, but it is not precisely a symphony in white. One lady has a yellowish dress and brown hair and a bit of blue ribbon, the other has a red fan, and there are flowers and green leaves. There is a girl in white on white sofa, but even this girl has reddish hair; and of course there is the flesh color of the complexions.
To this Whistler promply retorted:
Bon Dieu! Did this wise person expect white hair and chalked faces? And does he then, in his astounding consequence, believe that a symphony in F contains no other note, but shall be a continued repetition of F,F,F?....Fool!
This was one of the earliest of Whistler’s critical encounters, taking place when the picture was exhibited at the Academy in 1867, and the critics were soon to learn that here was a painter who could hit back with interest.
As the successive exhibition of Whistler’s pictures enabled the tendencies and peculiarities of his work to be more clearly seen, the public, the critics, and the Royal Academy itself became more and more hostile to him, and finally took up an attitude of undisguised ill-will. In 1872 his painting of his mother, now universally recognized to be one of the great portraits of the century, was narrowly rejected by the Academy, and its final acceptance was only due to the staunch championship of the veteran Sir William Boxall, R.A., who threatened to resign from the Council if the pictures were not hung. Doubtless Whistler’s habit of giving his works titles borrowed from musical terms prejudiced the public agianst them. An extremist far more in his titles than in his actual manner of painting, Whistler went so far as to call his picture of mother, ‘Arrangement in Grey and Black.’ He defended this title by saying:
That is what it is. To me it is interesting as a picture of my mother; but what can or ought the public to care about the identity of the portrait?
In his desire to emphasize the importance of decorative design adn color in painting, Whistler became a little inhuman. As one of his younger critics pertinently observed, we can find an ‘arrangement of grey and black’ in a coal-scuttle; we find far more in Whistler’s ‘Mother’, we find reverence for age, character, tenderness, and affection. It has become one of the great pictures of the world, not only because it is a pleasing pattern of colors, but because it is a true work of deep emotion tenderly expressed.
No longer welcome at the Royal Academy, Whistler was fortunate in soon securing a new exhibition center. Sir Coutts Lindsay, a rich banker and amateur painter who patronized the arts, had the Grosvenor Gallery built in Bond Street, and at the first exhibition opened there in May 1877 Whistler was represented by seven pictures. These included the portrait of Carlyle, now at Glasgow, a painting similar in style to the artist’s ‘Mother’, described as ‘An Arrangement in Brown,’ a full-length of Irving as Philip II of Spain, described as ‘Arrangement in Black No.III,’ and four nocturnes, two in blue and silver, one in blue and gold, and one in black and gold. Whistler had not confined his studies of the Thames in mid-London to his etched work; he had used these subjects for paintings in the sixties, among them being ‘Old Battersea Bridge’ and ‘Chelsea in Ice,’ but in this new series of evening effects by the riverside he shocked the conventions of the day more than he had yet done by his ‘symphonies.’
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Whistler also painted a ‘Symphony in White No.III’; in this two girls, one in cream, one in white, recline on a white sofa, while a fan on the floor and the flowers of an azalea in a corner repeat the dominant whites. The motive of the artist in choosing these color schemes and calling the pictures ‘symphonies’ was at this time beyond the comprehension of even professional art critics, and one of them wrote of this picture in the Saturday Review:
In the ‘Symphony in White No.III’ by Mr Whistler there are many dainty varieties of tint, but it is not precisely a symphony in white. One lady has a yellowish dress and brown hair and a bit of blue ribbon, the other has a red fan, and there are flowers and green leaves. There is a girl in white on white sofa, but even this girl has reddish hair; and of course there is the flesh color of the complexions.
To this Whistler promply retorted:
Bon Dieu! Did this wise person expect white hair and chalked faces? And does he then, in his astounding consequence, believe that a symphony in F contains no other note, but shall be a continued repetition of F,F,F?....Fool!
This was one of the earliest of Whistler’s critical encounters, taking place when the picture was exhibited at the Academy in 1867, and the critics were soon to learn that here was a painter who could hit back with interest.
As the successive exhibition of Whistler’s pictures enabled the tendencies and peculiarities of his work to be more clearly seen, the public, the critics, and the Royal Academy itself became more and more hostile to him, and finally took up an attitude of undisguised ill-will. In 1872 his painting of his mother, now universally recognized to be one of the great portraits of the century, was narrowly rejected by the Academy, and its final acceptance was only due to the staunch championship of the veteran Sir William Boxall, R.A., who threatened to resign from the Council if the pictures were not hung. Doubtless Whistler’s habit of giving his works titles borrowed from musical terms prejudiced the public agianst them. An extremist far more in his titles than in his actual manner of painting, Whistler went so far as to call his picture of mother, ‘Arrangement in Grey and Black.’ He defended this title by saying:
That is what it is. To me it is interesting as a picture of my mother; but what can or ought the public to care about the identity of the portrait?
In his desire to emphasize the importance of decorative design adn color in painting, Whistler became a little inhuman. As one of his younger critics pertinently observed, we can find an ‘arrangement of grey and black’ in a coal-scuttle; we find far more in Whistler’s ‘Mother’, we find reverence for age, character, tenderness, and affection. It has become one of the great pictures of the world, not only because it is a pleasing pattern of colors, but because it is a true work of deep emotion tenderly expressed.
No longer welcome at the Royal Academy, Whistler was fortunate in soon securing a new exhibition center. Sir Coutts Lindsay, a rich banker and amateur painter who patronized the arts, had the Grosvenor Gallery built in Bond Street, and at the first exhibition opened there in May 1877 Whistler was represented by seven pictures. These included the portrait of Carlyle, now at Glasgow, a painting similar in style to the artist’s ‘Mother’, described as ‘An Arrangement in Brown,’ a full-length of Irving as Philip II of Spain, described as ‘Arrangement in Black No.III,’ and four nocturnes, two in blue and silver, one in blue and gold, and one in black and gold. Whistler had not confined his studies of the Thames in mid-London to his etched work; he had used these subjects for paintings in the sixties, among them being ‘Old Battersea Bridge’ and ‘Chelsea in Ice,’ but in this new series of evening effects by the riverside he shocked the conventions of the day more than he had yet done by his ‘symphonies.’
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Friday, April 04, 2008
Made In France Label For Fine Jewelry
I think it was a brilliant move by the French jewelry sector to initiate Joaillerie de France certification (a government-supported label and hallmark) because this guarantees quality and recognition + consumer confidence.
Other countries should follow the French to promote and guarantee high standards in fine jewelry.
Useful link:
www.joailleriedefrance.net
Other countries should follow the French to promote and guarantee high standards in fine jewelry.
Useful link:
www.joailleriedefrance.net
Takashi Murakami
Takashi Murakami is well-known for pairing fine art with cartoons + his artistic style, called Superflat, is characterized by flat planes of color and graphic images involving a character style derived from anime and manga + he is also known as the Andy Warhol of Japan.
Useful links:
www.takashimurakami.com
http://english.kaikaikiki.co.jp
Useful links:
www.takashimurakami.com
http://english.kaikaikiki.co.jp
NBD Pearl Museum
If you are interested in learning more about the colorful history of pearl divers and merchants of Arabia, visit NBD Pearl Museum, Dubai + it's an educational experience.
Useful link:
www.nbd.com
Useful link:
www.nbd.com
Basel Show
BaselWorld, the world's largest watch and jewelry trade show will be held in Switzerland from April 3 - 10, 2008 + I think there will be new watch products + innovative old and new jewelry brands to accommodate different tastes.
Useful links:
www.messe.ch
www.baselworld.com
Useful links:
www.messe.ch
www.baselworld.com
Music Update
For music lovers, web is becoming a mecca, with lots of innovative services. Listen. Enjoy.
Useful links:
www.freemusiczilla.com
http://soundpedia.com
http://songza.com
www.last.fm
Useful links:
www.freemusiczilla.com
http://soundpedia.com
http://songza.com
www.last.fm
Fighting For Their Rights
Konstantin Akinsha and Grigorij Kozlov writes about the masterpieces of Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov, now on view at London’s Royal Academy + the heirs’ efforts for compensation from the Russian state + the legal and political issues + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2474
Lumpy Diamonds
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The term ‘lumpy’ describes diamonds which are too high or too thick compared to the proportions standard in any particular period. Up to the beginning of this century the two sets of main facets were supposed to meet at right angles at the girdle—that is, with both crown and pavilion angles of 45°. The crown height had to be half the pavilion depth, and the culet just large enough to act as reflector of the incident light. These proportions, developed in te sixteenth century, varying slightly according to the shape dictated by the rough, resulted in spectacular light effects, and diamonds with these classic proportions remained much in demand for nearly three centuries.
However, only one gem could be extracted from each crystal, and fashioning involved the long and arduous process of hand bruting, so it was not surprising that many cutters decided to save labor and leave the stones lumpy. They sacrificed a great deal of brilliance but saved weight, and were able to find a perfectly satisfactory market for these diamonds, at a slightly lower rate per carat, among a clientele lacking any appreciation of true quality.
Mawe’s ‘blunder’ was a further factor responsible for the belief that the overall height of a diamond should be equal to its width. As late as the 1930s I came across people with this conviction. At that time large quantities of old-fashioned lumpy diamonds were still on the second-hand market. These have all been recut by now but, alas, so have most of the beautiful 45° cuts.
The introduction of modern mechanical sawing has resulted in the possibility of substantial weight retention since it enables two gems to be cut from one crystal and eliminates the temptation, through sheer lack of judgement, to produce lumpy gems. This innovation, and the introduction of electricity to supercede candlelight, have brought new desired proportions to the Brilliant Cut. The overall height has been reduced from the classic optimum of 70 per cent to the new height of only 60 per cent.
The term ‘lumpy’ describes diamonds which are too high or too thick compared to the proportions standard in any particular period. Up to the beginning of this century the two sets of main facets were supposed to meet at right angles at the girdle—that is, with both crown and pavilion angles of 45°. The crown height had to be half the pavilion depth, and the culet just large enough to act as reflector of the incident light. These proportions, developed in te sixteenth century, varying slightly according to the shape dictated by the rough, resulted in spectacular light effects, and diamonds with these classic proportions remained much in demand for nearly three centuries.
However, only one gem could be extracted from each crystal, and fashioning involved the long and arduous process of hand bruting, so it was not surprising that many cutters decided to save labor and leave the stones lumpy. They sacrificed a great deal of brilliance but saved weight, and were able to find a perfectly satisfactory market for these diamonds, at a slightly lower rate per carat, among a clientele lacking any appreciation of true quality.
Mawe’s ‘blunder’ was a further factor responsible for the belief that the overall height of a diamond should be equal to its width. As late as the 1930s I came across people with this conviction. At that time large quantities of old-fashioned lumpy diamonds were still on the second-hand market. These have all been recut by now but, alas, so have most of the beautiful 45° cuts.
The introduction of modern mechanical sawing has resulted in the possibility of substantial weight retention since it enables two gems to be cut from one crystal and eliminates the temptation, through sheer lack of judgement, to produce lumpy gems. This innovation, and the introduction of electricity to supercede candlelight, have brought new desired proportions to the Brilliant Cut. The overall height has been reduced from the classic optimum of 70 per cent to the new height of only 60 per cent.
The Influence Of The Far East
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
Whistler settled down in Chelsea, and became friendly with his neighbor Rossetti, who shared his taste for blue-and-white Chinese porcelain and for Japanese color-prints, and during his first years in London the artistic influence of the Far East became more pronounced in Whistler’s art. He surrounded himself with Oriental objects adn introduced them constantly into his pictures. In 1864 he painted ‘The Gold Screen’, against which sat a young woman in Japanese costume, surrounded by other variously colored objects from the Far East. About the same time he painted ‘La Princesse du Pays de la Porcelaine’, in which brilliant colors are again afforded by a Japanese dress. The original of this portrait was Miss Christina Spartali, daughter of the Greek Consul-General in London. Her sister Marie Spartali, afterwards Mrs Stillman, had been a pupil of Rossetti and sat to him for ‘Fiametta’ and other paintings. Owing to the family likeness common to the two sisters, it has been said that at this time Whistler was subject to Rossetti’s influence, but the resemblance between their works is a superficial one due only to the likeness of their respective models. There is no evidence that Whistler borrowed any of Rossetti’s methods, and the chief influences during the years in which Whistler formed his style of painting were Courbet and Manet, Velazquez and the masters of Japan. In etching he was principally influenced by Rembrandt and Méryon.
‘The Princess of the Porcelain Country,’ accepted by the Salon in 1865, was the first work by Whistler to be shown in any official exhibition in Paris. Other pictures of this Japanese period were ‘The Lange Leizen,’ in the Academy of 1864, ‘The Balcony,’ in the Academy of 1870, and most beautiful of all, ‘The Little White Girl’, also known as ‘Symphony in White No.II,’ shown at the Academy in the same year. The Japanese fan in the girl’s hand is the only direct confession of Oriental influence in this picture, which otherwise unites the Spanish gravity and realism of ‘At the Piano’ with the gay-colored decorativeness of a Hokusai or Hiroshige. After having seen this picture in Whistler’s studio, Swinburne wrote the poem afterwards included in Poems and Ballads:
Before The Mirror
Come snow, come wind or thunder,
High up in air,
I watch my face and wonder
At my bright hair,
Nought else exists or grieves
The rose at heart, that heaves
With love of her own leaves, and lips that pair.
I cannot tell what pleasures
Or what pains were,
What pale new loves and treasures
New years will bear;
What beam will fall, what shower
With grief or joy for dower,
But one thing knows the flower, the flower is fair.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Whistler settled down in Chelsea, and became friendly with his neighbor Rossetti, who shared his taste for blue-and-white Chinese porcelain and for Japanese color-prints, and during his first years in London the artistic influence of the Far East became more pronounced in Whistler’s art. He surrounded himself with Oriental objects adn introduced them constantly into his pictures. In 1864 he painted ‘The Gold Screen’, against which sat a young woman in Japanese costume, surrounded by other variously colored objects from the Far East. About the same time he painted ‘La Princesse du Pays de la Porcelaine’, in which brilliant colors are again afforded by a Japanese dress. The original of this portrait was Miss Christina Spartali, daughter of the Greek Consul-General in London. Her sister Marie Spartali, afterwards Mrs Stillman, had been a pupil of Rossetti and sat to him for ‘Fiametta’ and other paintings. Owing to the family likeness common to the two sisters, it has been said that at this time Whistler was subject to Rossetti’s influence, but the resemblance between their works is a superficial one due only to the likeness of their respective models. There is no evidence that Whistler borrowed any of Rossetti’s methods, and the chief influences during the years in which Whistler formed his style of painting were Courbet and Manet, Velazquez and the masters of Japan. In etching he was principally influenced by Rembrandt and Méryon.
‘The Princess of the Porcelain Country,’ accepted by the Salon in 1865, was the first work by Whistler to be shown in any official exhibition in Paris. Other pictures of this Japanese period were ‘The Lange Leizen,’ in the Academy of 1864, ‘The Balcony,’ in the Academy of 1870, and most beautiful of all, ‘The Little White Girl’, also known as ‘Symphony in White No.II,’ shown at the Academy in the same year. The Japanese fan in the girl’s hand is the only direct confession of Oriental influence in this picture, which otherwise unites the Spanish gravity and realism of ‘At the Piano’ with the gay-colored decorativeness of a Hokusai or Hiroshige. After having seen this picture in Whistler’s studio, Swinburne wrote the poem afterwards included in Poems and Ballads:
Before The Mirror
Come snow, come wind or thunder,
High up in air,
I watch my face and wonder
At my bright hair,
Nought else exists or grieves
The rose at heart, that heaves
With love of her own leaves, and lips that pair.
I cannot tell what pleasures
Or what pains were,
What pale new loves and treasures
New years will bear;
What beam will fall, what shower
With grief or joy for dower,
But one thing knows the flower, the flower is fair.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
A Greener World
I was really intrigued by the unique designs of Goodearth Homes + I think the concept of building a community of people committed to a sustainable lifestyle is brilliant + I also believe this social network could cultivate a sense of belonging which is going out of our lives incrementally due to rapid urbanization.
A great concept + I liked it.
Useful link:
www.goodearthhomes.net
A great concept + I liked it.
Useful link:
www.goodearthhomes.net
'Origin' Chocolate
According to Barry Callebaut, shoppers in the United States, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, France, and Britain are starting to select their chocolate bars as they would a bottle of wine - studying the cocoa content and the origin of the beans.
Useful link:
www.barry-callebaut.com
It's intriguing to see parallels with gemstone (ruby, blue sapphire, emerald, tourmaline) origins and consumer preference (s) + in an ideal case, gemstone (s) from different countries are found in unique geological environments, with unique gemological properties, leading to one single source, if possible + if chocolate producers are able to label the origin of beans and the cocoa content with technology, why can't the gemstone industry do the same with high value colored stones? Start labeling the trace elements of colored gemstones and let the consumers decide!
Useful link:
www.barry-callebaut.com
It's intriguing to see parallels with gemstone (ruby, blue sapphire, emerald, tourmaline) origins and consumer preference (s) + in an ideal case, gemstone (s) from different countries are found in unique geological environments, with unique gemological properties, leading to one single source, if possible + if chocolate producers are able to label the origin of beans and the cocoa content with technology, why can't the gemstone industry do the same with high value colored stones? Start labeling the trace elements of colored gemstones and let the consumers decide!
Art Museums Provenance Issues
The article on Art museums struggle with provenance issues @ http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0402/p13s01-alar.html was intriguing because lack of knowledgeable experts + complicated laws have always made it difficult to figure out an object's history + this reminded me of the gem and jewelry industry: gemstones can pass through many hands on their journey from mine to consumer + the nature and number of intermediaries in the industry would make it impossible for most gem dealers/ jewelers to know the provenance of their supplies + you may also need special skills and knowledge to track their original source.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Sunstone Update
David Federman writes about natural Oregon sunstone, and similar-looking treated andesine, that's often confused, and sold as natural + other viewpoints @ http://www.colored-stone.com/stories/mar08/sunstone.cfm
Useful link:
www.colored-stone.com
Useful link:
www.colored-stone.com
Next Eleven
The Next Eleven (or N-11) is a short list of eleven countries named by Goldman Sachs investment bank as having promising outlooks for investment and future growth.
- Bangladesh
- Egypt
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Mexico
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- South Korea
- Turkey
- Vietnam
Useful link:
www.gs.com
I think Africa will start playing an important role in global economy in the coming decades + the emerging markets in African countries will become with time more and more representative + we will see the US, China and the EU compete for market share one way or another + the future of Africa looks bright.
- Bangladesh
- Egypt
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Mexico
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- South Korea
- Turkey
- Vietnam
Useful link:
www.gs.com
I think Africa will start playing an important role in global economy in the coming decades + the emerging markets in African countries will become with time more and more representative + we will see the US, China and the EU compete for market share one way or another + the future of Africa looks bright.
Bette Davis
I think Bette Davis is one of the greatest actress of the American cinema + my favorite is the panicky aging actress character, Margo Channing, in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 'All About Eve' (1950) + she will be remembered forever.
Useful link:
www.bettedavis.com
Useful link:
www.bettedavis.com
‘The Scream’, The Thief, And The 2 Million M&M's
Milton Esterow writes about stolen masterpieces + unique operating system (s) of 'Balkan Bandits' + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2486
Useful link:
www.artloss.com
Useful link:
www.artloss.com
DSM-IV Made Easy: The Clinician's Guide To Diagnosis
DSM-IV Made Easy: The Clinician's Guide to Diagnosis by James Morrison is loaded with information and facts, interesting clinical vignettes + it's a great book.
Useful link:
www.psych.org
I have come across overly cautious or paranoid, conflicted, masked, revenging/consumed, fussy, depressed jewelers and dealers + interestingly these symptoms look like some of the mental disorder categories described in the American Psychiatric Association’s book Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Useful link:
www.psych.org
I have come across overly cautious or paranoid, conflicted, masked, revenging/consumed, fussy, depressed jewelers and dealers + interestingly these symptoms look like some of the mental disorder categories described in the American Psychiatric Association’s book Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Frank D Wade’s ‘Finely Cut Diamond’
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
In his book of 1916 Wade illustrates what he considers to be ‘a well made diamond’:
Table size: 40%
Crown height: 20%
Girdle thickness: 2%
Pavilion depth: 40%
Culet size: 2%
Crown angle: 35°
Pavilion angle: 41°
This differs from Morse’s 79 ct Brilliant in its circular outline, somewhat deeper pavilion, and smaller culet, but Morse also modified his ideal in the course of time.
Wade suggested virtually the same angles as Tolkowsky was to propose in 1919, but the former favored more modern shapes for the pavilion facets and did away with the disturbingly visible culet that Tolkowsky retained. Tolkowsky, on the other hand, rejected Wade’s table facet which, he claimed, favored fire at the expense of brilliance. Wade’s book and his idea of an ideal cut were obviously known to Tolkowsky when he was preparing his Treatise for publication in 1919.
In his book of 1916 Wade illustrates what he considers to be ‘a well made diamond’:
Table size: 40%
Crown height: 20%
Girdle thickness: 2%
Pavilion depth: 40%
Culet size: 2%
Crown angle: 35°
Pavilion angle: 41°
This differs from Morse’s 79 ct Brilliant in its circular outline, somewhat deeper pavilion, and smaller culet, but Morse also modified his ideal in the course of time.
Wade suggested virtually the same angles as Tolkowsky was to propose in 1919, but the former favored more modern shapes for the pavilion facets and did away with the disturbingly visible culet that Tolkowsky retained. Tolkowsky, on the other hand, rejected Wade’s table facet which, he claimed, favored fire at the expense of brilliance. Wade’s book and his idea of an ideal cut were obviously known to Tolkowsky when he was preparing his Treatise for publication in 1919.
The Influence Of The Far East
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
But all the time he was amusing himself he worked, not so much in the studio of Gleyre—his official place of training, but irregularly attended—as in the streets and cafés of Paris and in his rooms. He divided his time between etching and painting, and in the former he appeared almost as a master in the first ‘French Set’ published as early as 1858. In the following year he produced his first great achievement in painting, ‘At the Piano’, which, though rejected by the Paris Salon of 1859, was hung at the Roya Academy in 1860 and subsequently purchased by the Academician John Philip, R A. In this picture, which represents his half-sister, Mrs Seymour Haden, seated, playing the piano, against which her little daughter Annie, in white, is standing, Whistler already shows the influence of Velazquez. Philip was well known as an intense admirer of this master, and it was doubtless the Spanish qualities in Whistler’s painting which led the older artist to buy it. Two years later Whistler set out for Madrid with the intention of seeing the pictures by Velazquez in the Prado, but on the way he stopped at a seaside resort, where he nearly got drowned while bathing and had to return to Paris without going to Madrid.
In 1863 he made his second attempt to exhibit in the Paris Salon, and again the jury rejected his picture, the full length portrait of a young Irish girl, known as ‘Jo’, dressed in white, holding a white flower, and standing against a white curtain. ‘The White Girl’, as it was first called, was the beginning of a series of pictures in which Whistler deliberately experimented in improvising a color harmony based on the infinitely delicate gradations of one dominant color. It was afterwards entitled ‘Symphony in White No.I’
So many paintings by artists of great talent were rejected by the Salon this year that the Emperor Napoleon III intervened, and by his order a selection of the rejected works wa shown in a special room which became famous as the Salon des Refusks. Of this epoch-making exhibition more will be said, when dealing with French painters who were Whistler’s contemporaries, but for the moment it must suffice to say that among the works there exhibited was ‘The White Girl’, which elicited high praise from the more advanced critics.
From 1859 Whistler had divided his time between Paris and London, and though he had many friends and admirers in the former city, he was hurt at the lack of official recognition. In 1863 he fixed his residence in London, where several of his family were already established. Whistler’s father had married twice, and one of the daughters by his first wife had married the English surgeon Seymour Haden, who afterwards made a great reputation as an etcher. Whistler’s mother had also now left America and was living in London with her second son William, a doctor. James Whistler himself had not only stayed and exhibited in London, but had worked there, for in 1859 he had already begun the series of etechings known as ‘The Thames Set,’ which marks the culminating point of his first etching period. ‘Black Lion Wharf’ may be taken as an example of the perfection of his technique in 1859, of the lightness and elasticity of his line, and of the vivacity of the whole. Though he afterwards produced etchings, perfect of their kind, in quite another style, Whistler never did anything better in their own way than some of the plates in ‘The Thames Set’.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
But all the time he was amusing himself he worked, not so much in the studio of Gleyre—his official place of training, but irregularly attended—as in the streets and cafés of Paris and in his rooms. He divided his time between etching and painting, and in the former he appeared almost as a master in the first ‘French Set’ published as early as 1858. In the following year he produced his first great achievement in painting, ‘At the Piano’, which, though rejected by the Paris Salon of 1859, was hung at the Roya Academy in 1860 and subsequently purchased by the Academician John Philip, R A. In this picture, which represents his half-sister, Mrs Seymour Haden, seated, playing the piano, against which her little daughter Annie, in white, is standing, Whistler already shows the influence of Velazquez. Philip was well known as an intense admirer of this master, and it was doubtless the Spanish qualities in Whistler’s painting which led the older artist to buy it. Two years later Whistler set out for Madrid with the intention of seeing the pictures by Velazquez in the Prado, but on the way he stopped at a seaside resort, where he nearly got drowned while bathing and had to return to Paris without going to Madrid.
In 1863 he made his second attempt to exhibit in the Paris Salon, and again the jury rejected his picture, the full length portrait of a young Irish girl, known as ‘Jo’, dressed in white, holding a white flower, and standing against a white curtain. ‘The White Girl’, as it was first called, was the beginning of a series of pictures in which Whistler deliberately experimented in improvising a color harmony based on the infinitely delicate gradations of one dominant color. It was afterwards entitled ‘Symphony in White No.I’
So many paintings by artists of great talent were rejected by the Salon this year that the Emperor Napoleon III intervened, and by his order a selection of the rejected works wa shown in a special room which became famous as the Salon des Refusks. Of this epoch-making exhibition more will be said, when dealing with French painters who were Whistler’s contemporaries, but for the moment it must suffice to say that among the works there exhibited was ‘The White Girl’, which elicited high praise from the more advanced critics.
From 1859 Whistler had divided his time between Paris and London, and though he had many friends and admirers in the former city, he was hurt at the lack of official recognition. In 1863 he fixed his residence in London, where several of his family were already established. Whistler’s father had married twice, and one of the daughters by his first wife had married the English surgeon Seymour Haden, who afterwards made a great reputation as an etcher. Whistler’s mother had also now left America and was living in London with her second son William, a doctor. James Whistler himself had not only stayed and exhibited in London, but had worked there, for in 1859 he had already begun the series of etechings known as ‘The Thames Set,’ which marks the culminating point of his first etching period. ‘Black Lion Wharf’ may be taken as an example of the perfection of his technique in 1859, of the lightness and elasticity of his line, and of the vivacity of the whole. Though he afterwards produced etchings, perfect of their kind, in quite another style, Whistler never did anything better in their own way than some of the plates in ‘The Thames Set’.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Colored Stone + Diamond Views
With the world economy in flamefusion-flux-hydrothermal-high pressure high temperature mode, and the diamond (colored stone industry = amorphous) industry debt in US$12 billion +/-, I have always wondered why there are no IPOs in diamond/colored stone trade, a method used by many businesses to raise capital to compete in the global market + my guess is, the diamond/colored stone trade would be petrified of detailed financial information disclosure and the risk factor, especially in today's volatile economic environment.
Gold Update
According to People's Daily Online, with a recoverable reserve over 200 tons, the Yanshan gold mine in Wen county, northwest China's Gansu province under exploration will become the largest gold mine in China.
Useful link:
www.chinagoldgroup.com
Useful link:
www.chinagoldgroup.com
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
A Whole Rain Forest Market
The article On the Market: a Whole Rain Forest by Bryan Walsh @ http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1726381,00.html was interesting because if the new business model allows the tropical nations to keep their trees and capitalize on them, then it's a win-win deal.
Useful links:
www.globalcanopy.org
www.canopycapital.co.uk
www.iwokrama.org
Useful links:
www.globalcanopy.org
www.canopycapital.co.uk
www.iwokrama.org
The Baltimore Museum Of Art
(via budgettravel) A must-visit exhibition @ The Baltimore Museum of Art + Looking Through the Lens: Photography 1900-1960 + the museum's tattoo design contest + Meditations on African Art: Pattern .......is on display through August 17, 2008.
Don't miss it!
Useful link:
www.artbma.org
Don't miss it!
Useful link:
www.artbma.org
Design And The Elastic Mind
Design and the Elastic Mind = The Future of Innovation
A wonderful exhibition is on display in the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) + I think when you pair designers with scientists, it's always inspiring.
Useful link:
http://moma.org
A wonderful exhibition is on display in the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) + I think when you pair designers with scientists, it's always inspiring.
Useful link:
http://moma.org
GPS Letter Logger
I found the Economist article on GPS Letter Logger @ http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10909558 interesting + insightful + I was wondering whether the technology could be applicable in tracking gemstones, diamonds and jewelry worldwide.
Useful links:
www.trackingtheworld.com
http://trackingtheworld.com
Useful links:
www.trackingtheworld.com
http://trackingtheworld.com
Henry D Morse
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
Henry D Morse (1826-88) began his career as a diamond cutter in the Boston family firm of Morse, Crosby and Foss, where he was taught by Dutch specialists. To begin with he was more interested in weight retention than in refined work, but gradually, under the guidance of the instrument-maker Charles Field who became his collaborator, he abandoned the classic proportions in favor of lower main angles and smaller tables and culets. He also insisted on a regular girdle outline and the symmetrical distribution of facets.
All this, of course, involved a far greater weight loss than would have been tolerated in Europe at the time, but this problem was solved when Field invented a power-driven circular saw which could divide the rough into pieces suitable for fashioning. In fact, Field invented a number of machines for carrying out work previously done by hand.
By contributing to the revival of precision cutting, and through his ability to profit from Field’s mechanical inventions, Morse revolutionized diamond-fashioning methods. He was also responsible for changing the attitude of American jewelers to the details of make—that is, the quality of gem diamonds. This attitude was reflected by W R Cattelle in 1911: ‘A diamond....if it is poorly proportioned, shows an equal distribution of light and brilliancy at all distances from the eye. The center under the table is as full of light as the edge facet, because the back facets are holding the light which has entered from the front. If the stone were cut too deep or too shallow, part of the light would pass through the back facets and leave a dark center, called a ‘well in a deep stone, or ‘a fish-eye’ in a shallow stone.’
Of course, symmetry is as important as correct proportions. It was already considered so in the Table Cut era, rated even more highly during the period of precision cutting in London, and then forgotten again. Morse reintroduced the concept of perfect symmetry, but its importance was not stressed in print until 1916 when Wade stated: ‘The well-cut stone must be perfectly symmetrical. All the facets of a given set should be alike in size and shape. No additional facets should appear....The make of the girdle should be especially scruitinized.’
Wade went on to describe te debt owed to Morse by the diamond cutting industry: ‘When Henry Morse, of Boston, made a really scientific study of the effect of the brilliant upon the light which entered it and found out the angles which gave the best possible results, and then religiously cut his diamonds in accordance with what he had found out, little room for improvement was left. A fine five-carat Morse cut which the writer has seen is about as handsome as any diamond to be found among stones more recently cut. There has been some further refining of the lines and angles, but the ideal brilliant is not far from the shape that Morse gave his stones.
‘The necessity of sawing the rough, in order to save weight and thus cheapen the finished product, has brought us a flatter-topped stone with deeper back. It is very good, but certainly no better, everything considered, than the full-fashioned brilliant of the Morse type.’
The first of two important stones known to have been fashioned by Morse is the Dewey Diamond, a well-shaped rounded octahedron that was discovered in Virginia in 1855, the largest crystal to have been found in the United States. It originally weighed about 24.35 ct and had two large flaws, one on either side. Despite this, Morse was able to produce a Brilliant with a weight loss of only 51 per cent. Presumably he used classic proportions as this was towards the beginning of his career. The final weight of the fashioned diamond was about 12 ct.
The second diamond of which we have details is discussed and illustrated by the eminent American gemologist, Joseph O Gill (1976). In its rough state the diamond weighed about 128 ct and, after fashioning, 78.92 ct—a weight loss of 61.1 per cent. Sawing was not necessary as the rough octahedroid crystal had a rounded bipyramidal form with a height equal to its width. We cannot calculate its exact proportions from Morese’s report because the figures he gives for the main angles do not tally with his sketches, but they are likely to have been within the following ranges:
Table size: c. 49%
Crown height: 18 – 20%
Girdle thickness: (included in crown and pavilion)
Pavilion depth: 39 – 42%
Culet size: c. 5%
Crown angle: 35 – 38°
Pavilion angle: 38 – 41°
These are simply the proportions favored by the rough, so we cannot take them as necessarily represented Morse’s ideal.
It is remarkable how far Morse succeeded in making a slightly cushion-shaped Brilliant appear circular by applying as good as eightfold symmetry all over. He considerably lengthened the lower girdle facets which, in the classic Standard Brilliant, were supposed to be the same as the upper girdle facets (round the turn of the century O M Farrand elongated them further, from 75 percent to nearly 90 percent of the distance from the girdle to the culet). The culet on Morse’s diamond is a relic of the time when this small facet acted as a reflector. Today it would be considered ‘a disturbing spot, seen through the table.’
The yellow Brilliant in the Grϋnes Gewölbe, Dresden, fashioned in the early part of the eighteenth century, is surprisingly similar to Morse’s 79 ct diamond. Only the faceting of the pavilion differs. Obviously, also, the Baroque stone lacks modern precision. The gem weighs about 13.5 ct and has a diameter of 15mm.
Table size: c.50%
Crown height: 19.7%
Girdle thickness: thin
Pavilion depth: 39.3%
Culet size: very small
Crown angles: 33.3° (average)
Pavilion angles: 39° (average)
Henry D Morse (1826-88) began his career as a diamond cutter in the Boston family firm of Morse, Crosby and Foss, where he was taught by Dutch specialists. To begin with he was more interested in weight retention than in refined work, but gradually, under the guidance of the instrument-maker Charles Field who became his collaborator, he abandoned the classic proportions in favor of lower main angles and smaller tables and culets. He also insisted on a regular girdle outline and the symmetrical distribution of facets.
All this, of course, involved a far greater weight loss than would have been tolerated in Europe at the time, but this problem was solved when Field invented a power-driven circular saw which could divide the rough into pieces suitable for fashioning. In fact, Field invented a number of machines for carrying out work previously done by hand.
By contributing to the revival of precision cutting, and through his ability to profit from Field’s mechanical inventions, Morse revolutionized diamond-fashioning methods. He was also responsible for changing the attitude of American jewelers to the details of make—that is, the quality of gem diamonds. This attitude was reflected by W R Cattelle in 1911: ‘A diamond....if it is poorly proportioned, shows an equal distribution of light and brilliancy at all distances from the eye. The center under the table is as full of light as the edge facet, because the back facets are holding the light which has entered from the front. If the stone were cut too deep or too shallow, part of the light would pass through the back facets and leave a dark center, called a ‘well in a deep stone, or ‘a fish-eye’ in a shallow stone.’
Of course, symmetry is as important as correct proportions. It was already considered so in the Table Cut era, rated even more highly during the period of precision cutting in London, and then forgotten again. Morse reintroduced the concept of perfect symmetry, but its importance was not stressed in print until 1916 when Wade stated: ‘The well-cut stone must be perfectly symmetrical. All the facets of a given set should be alike in size and shape. No additional facets should appear....The make of the girdle should be especially scruitinized.’
Wade went on to describe te debt owed to Morse by the diamond cutting industry: ‘When Henry Morse, of Boston, made a really scientific study of the effect of the brilliant upon the light which entered it and found out the angles which gave the best possible results, and then religiously cut his diamonds in accordance with what he had found out, little room for improvement was left. A fine five-carat Morse cut which the writer has seen is about as handsome as any diamond to be found among stones more recently cut. There has been some further refining of the lines and angles, but the ideal brilliant is not far from the shape that Morse gave his stones.
‘The necessity of sawing the rough, in order to save weight and thus cheapen the finished product, has brought us a flatter-topped stone with deeper back. It is very good, but certainly no better, everything considered, than the full-fashioned brilliant of the Morse type.’
The first of two important stones known to have been fashioned by Morse is the Dewey Diamond, a well-shaped rounded octahedron that was discovered in Virginia in 1855, the largest crystal to have been found in the United States. It originally weighed about 24.35 ct and had two large flaws, one on either side. Despite this, Morse was able to produce a Brilliant with a weight loss of only 51 per cent. Presumably he used classic proportions as this was towards the beginning of his career. The final weight of the fashioned diamond was about 12 ct.
The second diamond of which we have details is discussed and illustrated by the eminent American gemologist, Joseph O Gill (1976). In its rough state the diamond weighed about 128 ct and, after fashioning, 78.92 ct—a weight loss of 61.1 per cent. Sawing was not necessary as the rough octahedroid crystal had a rounded bipyramidal form with a height equal to its width. We cannot calculate its exact proportions from Morese’s report because the figures he gives for the main angles do not tally with his sketches, but they are likely to have been within the following ranges:
Table size: c. 49%
Crown height: 18 – 20%
Girdle thickness: (included in crown and pavilion)
Pavilion depth: 39 – 42%
Culet size: c. 5%
Crown angle: 35 – 38°
Pavilion angle: 38 – 41°
These are simply the proportions favored by the rough, so we cannot take them as necessarily represented Morse’s ideal.
It is remarkable how far Morse succeeded in making a slightly cushion-shaped Brilliant appear circular by applying as good as eightfold symmetry all over. He considerably lengthened the lower girdle facets which, in the classic Standard Brilliant, were supposed to be the same as the upper girdle facets (round the turn of the century O M Farrand elongated them further, from 75 percent to nearly 90 percent of the distance from the girdle to the culet). The culet on Morse’s diamond is a relic of the time when this small facet acted as a reflector. Today it would be considered ‘a disturbing spot, seen through the table.’
The yellow Brilliant in the Grϋnes Gewölbe, Dresden, fashioned in the early part of the eighteenth century, is surprisingly similar to Morse’s 79 ct diamond. Only the faceting of the pavilion differs. Obviously, also, the Baroque stone lacks modern precision. The gem weighs about 13.5 ct and has a diameter of 15mm.
Table size: c.50%
Crown height: 19.7%
Girdle thickness: thin
Pavilion depth: 39.3%
Culet size: very small
Crown angles: 33.3° (average)
Pavilion angles: 39° (average)
The Influence Of The Far East
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
2
Among the artists of the nineteenth century Whistler holds a unique position. He was the first great painter of American birth to win universal renown. His life was a long struggle against hostile criticism and misunderstanding, and he defended his art and his ideals with the pungent brilliancy of a wit and with the undaunted pugnacity of a soldier. By example and precept he eventually revolutionized English ideas about art and interior decoration. He compelled people who stubbornly repeated ‘Every Picture tells a Story,’ to realize at long last that every picture ought to sing a tune, that is to say, it ought to utter forth a melody of line and harmony of color; in a word, he compelled all England and the United States to recognize the decorative as well as the illustrative element in painting. More than any other English-speaking man Whistler opened our eyes to the true value of Velazquez and Hokusai, and he invented a new style of portraiture in which Spanish realism was exquisitely wedded to a Japanese sense of decoration. A stranger within our gates, he revealed England to the English and recorded both in his etchings and in his paintings poetic aspects of London’s riverside, aspects to which hitherto all artists had been blind, aspects the beauty of which all can now see.
Whistler was born on July 10, 1834, at Lowell, in Massachusetts, and was baptized there with the Christian names of James Abbott. This second name he dropped in later life and substituted for it his mother’s maiden name, McNeill. His father, Major George Washington Whistler, after leaving the United States army, became a railway engineer, and in 1842 journeyed to Russia with his wife and family: he had been appointed chief adviser of the railway under construction between Moscow and Petrograd. The most important consequence to James Whistler of this boyhood stay in Russia was that in Petrograd he learnt to speak French fluently. His father died in 1849, when the widow returned with her children to the United States.
Following in his father’s footsteps, James Whistler in 1851 entered the military college of West Point, but after three years of desultory study he was dismissed, chiefly owing to his deplorable failure in chemistry. The first question in his oral examination floored him completely, and later in life Whistler humorously said, ‘If silicon had been a gas I might have become a general in the United States army.’ Even from his Russian days Whistler had shown a remarkable capacity for drawing, and his delight in sketching prompted his relatives, after his West Point failure, to obtain for him a post as draughtsman in the Government Coast Survey Department at Washington, thinking that this occupation might be more congenial to him. To some extent it was, for here he learnt to engrave and etch, and he executed an excellent plate of a view taken from the sea, of cliffs along the coast; but the fancy heads and figures which he irrelevantly added in the margin showed that he could not take his topographical studies seriously as a preliminary to map-making, but only as an excuse for sketching. In February 1855 he resigned his position, and the end of the year found him an art student in Paris.
Many painters have spent joyous student-days in Paris, but few of them bear the traces of it in their lives as Whistler did. He had barely turned twenty-one when he arrived in Paris, and his high-spirited temperament and sense of fun delighted in all the antics which then distinguished the Bohemians of the Latin Quarter. In those days the art students lived a life apart, making themselves noticed by wearing unorthodox clothes, playing all sorts of practical jokes, affecting to despise the common mortal, and never so happy as when they succeeded in shocking and bewildering what they called the ‘bourgeois’. Whistler plunged hot-foot into this way of life, and, as the distinguished French critic M Théodore Duret, who knew him well, has remarked, there was grafted on him ‘the habit of a separate pose, whimsical attire, a way of despising and setting at defiance the ‘vulgur herd’ incapable of seeing and feeling like an artist. This combination of the distinctive chaaracteristics of a French art student and the manner of an American gentleman, in a man otherwise full of life, spirit, and individuality, made of Whistler a quaint original who could not fail to be remarked everywhere.’
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
2
Among the artists of the nineteenth century Whistler holds a unique position. He was the first great painter of American birth to win universal renown. His life was a long struggle against hostile criticism and misunderstanding, and he defended his art and his ideals with the pungent brilliancy of a wit and with the undaunted pugnacity of a soldier. By example and precept he eventually revolutionized English ideas about art and interior decoration. He compelled people who stubbornly repeated ‘Every Picture tells a Story,’ to realize at long last that every picture ought to sing a tune, that is to say, it ought to utter forth a melody of line and harmony of color; in a word, he compelled all England and the United States to recognize the decorative as well as the illustrative element in painting. More than any other English-speaking man Whistler opened our eyes to the true value of Velazquez and Hokusai, and he invented a new style of portraiture in which Spanish realism was exquisitely wedded to a Japanese sense of decoration. A stranger within our gates, he revealed England to the English and recorded both in his etchings and in his paintings poetic aspects of London’s riverside, aspects to which hitherto all artists had been blind, aspects the beauty of which all can now see.
Whistler was born on July 10, 1834, at Lowell, in Massachusetts, and was baptized there with the Christian names of James Abbott. This second name he dropped in later life and substituted for it his mother’s maiden name, McNeill. His father, Major George Washington Whistler, after leaving the United States army, became a railway engineer, and in 1842 journeyed to Russia with his wife and family: he had been appointed chief adviser of the railway under construction between Moscow and Petrograd. The most important consequence to James Whistler of this boyhood stay in Russia was that in Petrograd he learnt to speak French fluently. His father died in 1849, when the widow returned with her children to the United States.
Following in his father’s footsteps, James Whistler in 1851 entered the military college of West Point, but after three years of desultory study he was dismissed, chiefly owing to his deplorable failure in chemistry. The first question in his oral examination floored him completely, and later in life Whistler humorously said, ‘If silicon had been a gas I might have become a general in the United States army.’ Even from his Russian days Whistler had shown a remarkable capacity for drawing, and his delight in sketching prompted his relatives, after his West Point failure, to obtain for him a post as draughtsman in the Government Coast Survey Department at Washington, thinking that this occupation might be more congenial to him. To some extent it was, for here he learnt to engrave and etch, and he executed an excellent plate of a view taken from the sea, of cliffs along the coast; but the fancy heads and figures which he irrelevantly added in the margin showed that he could not take his topographical studies seriously as a preliminary to map-making, but only as an excuse for sketching. In February 1855 he resigned his position, and the end of the year found him an art student in Paris.
Many painters have spent joyous student-days in Paris, but few of them bear the traces of it in their lives as Whistler did. He had barely turned twenty-one when he arrived in Paris, and his high-spirited temperament and sense of fun delighted in all the antics which then distinguished the Bohemians of the Latin Quarter. In those days the art students lived a life apart, making themselves noticed by wearing unorthodox clothes, playing all sorts of practical jokes, affecting to despise the common mortal, and never so happy as when they succeeded in shocking and bewildering what they called the ‘bourgeois’. Whistler plunged hot-foot into this way of life, and, as the distinguished French critic M Théodore Duret, who knew him well, has remarked, there was grafted on him ‘the habit of a separate pose, whimsical attire, a way of despising and setting at defiance the ‘vulgur herd’ incapable of seeing and feeling like an artist. This combination of the distinctive chaaracteristics of a French art student and the manner of an American gentleman, in a man otherwise full of life, spirit, and individuality, made of Whistler a quaint original who could not fail to be remarked everywhere.’
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Every Disaster Tells A Tale We Can Learn From
(via HBS Working Knowledge) I found the article Sharpening Your Skills: Disaster! @ http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5881.html brilliant + useful.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Ancient Gold Jewelry Made In The Americas
It has been reported that the earliest known gold jewelry with either greenstone or turquoise, made nearly 4,000 years ago, has been found in a burial site near Lake Titicaca, Peru + the experts believe the gold was probably wrapped around a piece of wood and pounded until it was folded into small tubes to look like jewelry.
I think it's an interesting find + it also highlights the status-consciousness of the early people.
Useful link:
www.pnas.org
I think it's an interesting find + it also highlights the status-consciousness of the early people.
Useful link:
www.pnas.org
The New Face Of The Music Industry
According to industry analysts, Live Nation, world's biggest concert promoter, owns 170 plus venues of various sizes worldwide + due to piracy and declining CD sales, artists are now realizing that the money lies in touring and merchandising + in the coming years we are going to see new business models via band merchandising, digital and branding rights.
Useful link:
www.livenation.com
Useful link:
www.livenation.com
The Magical Chorus
The Magical Chorus by Antonina Bouis offers a unique perspective + an insider's insight on writers, musicians, artists, dancers, theater and film directors, each an important masterstone in the social and political dynamics of Russian culture.
Old English And Old European Cuts
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
In gemological literature, the terms Old English and Old European are used for the same type of round cut. This is confusing,and I should like to suggest that the two names be retained but be given separate definitions: Old English for the fine products of the English master cutters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and Old European for the poorer-quality diamonds with proportions of all kinds, produced by the major cutting factories elsewhere.
Small and medium-sized Brilliants were, on the whole, haphazardly fashioned. Almost all the exceptions are high-class English jewels. A striking example of a jewel with Old European Cuts is the large Bouquet made in 1760 for the Empress Catherine II, now in the Treasury of the Diamond Fund in Moscow. If such a mixture of different Brilliant Cuts was acceptable to this exacting imperial court, what must not lesser mortals have been satisfied with? Most customers were unfamiliar with the splendor of well-made Brilliants. The emphasis was on the style and execution of the ensemble rather than on the perfection of individual stones. This is why the English cutters were hard put to find customers for their superb—but expensive—products, and eventually went out of production altogether. However, by the late nineteenth century, jewelers were once again realizing that there was a market for well-cut stones and were refusing to buy poor-quality ones, so that Tolkowsky found a great many Brilliants in London as fine in quality as his ‘mathematically calculated’ ideal cut.
For this type of Brilliant cut I should like to suggest the term Early Circular Fine Cut. This would cover the first precision cuts fashioned with mechanical devices and introduced in about 1900, possibly by Morse himself. Crystals could be divided without difficulty by motor-driven circular saws, and the two parts could equally easily be bruted or rounded up into circular outlines on a lathe or cutting machine. The classical high 45° proportions were abandoned; by trial and error, cutters developed modern proportions and an attractive combination of brilliance and fire with the minimum of leakage of light through the pavilion facets.
The table below indicates the limits of variation in the proportions of Early Victorian or Old English round Brilliants.
Table size: 45 – 60%
Crown height: 20%
Crown angles: 36 - 45°
Girdle: very thin
Pavilion depth: 40%
Pavilion angles: c.40°
Culet size: max. 5%
By trial and error the London cutters must have discovered the correct angle for the main facets of the pavilion—an angle which is still applied today. It seems that they retained the old vertical proportions of a crown height equal to half the pavilion depth. However, they continued to try different ways of fashioning the crown, in an attempt to strike a balance between brilliance and fire. There is still no general agreement on the best way to achieve this, but today most Brilliants are fashioned for maximum brilliance and restricted dispersion of color.
Most authors of the nineteenth century, and even some later writers, repeat the definitions given by Jeffries and Mawe. However, one frequently comes across illustrations of incorrect and even impossible proportions. Clearly, the cutters took advantage of the ignorance of most of their customers. They had to compete with low-priced but ill-fashioned diamond of which there were plenty on the market. This is why, sadly, most of the old Brilliants, even the finest, were eventually refashioned.
In gemological literature, the terms Old English and Old European are used for the same type of round cut. This is confusing,and I should like to suggest that the two names be retained but be given separate definitions: Old English for the fine products of the English master cutters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and Old European for the poorer-quality diamonds with proportions of all kinds, produced by the major cutting factories elsewhere.
Small and medium-sized Brilliants were, on the whole, haphazardly fashioned. Almost all the exceptions are high-class English jewels. A striking example of a jewel with Old European Cuts is the large Bouquet made in 1760 for the Empress Catherine II, now in the Treasury of the Diamond Fund in Moscow. If such a mixture of different Brilliant Cuts was acceptable to this exacting imperial court, what must not lesser mortals have been satisfied with? Most customers were unfamiliar with the splendor of well-made Brilliants. The emphasis was on the style and execution of the ensemble rather than on the perfection of individual stones. This is why the English cutters were hard put to find customers for their superb—but expensive—products, and eventually went out of production altogether. However, by the late nineteenth century, jewelers were once again realizing that there was a market for well-cut stones and were refusing to buy poor-quality ones, so that Tolkowsky found a great many Brilliants in London as fine in quality as his ‘mathematically calculated’ ideal cut.
For this type of Brilliant cut I should like to suggest the term Early Circular Fine Cut. This would cover the first precision cuts fashioned with mechanical devices and introduced in about 1900, possibly by Morse himself. Crystals could be divided without difficulty by motor-driven circular saws, and the two parts could equally easily be bruted or rounded up into circular outlines on a lathe or cutting machine. The classical high 45° proportions were abandoned; by trial and error, cutters developed modern proportions and an attractive combination of brilliance and fire with the minimum of leakage of light through the pavilion facets.
The table below indicates the limits of variation in the proportions of Early Victorian or Old English round Brilliants.
Table size: 45 – 60%
Crown height: 20%
Crown angles: 36 - 45°
Girdle: very thin
Pavilion depth: 40%
Pavilion angles: c.40°
Culet size: max. 5%
By trial and error the London cutters must have discovered the correct angle for the main facets of the pavilion—an angle which is still applied today. It seems that they retained the old vertical proportions of a crown height equal to half the pavilion depth. However, they continued to try different ways of fashioning the crown, in an attempt to strike a balance between brilliance and fire. There is still no general agreement on the best way to achieve this, but today most Brilliants are fashioned for maximum brilliance and restricted dispersion of color.
Most authors of the nineteenth century, and even some later writers, repeat the definitions given by Jeffries and Mawe. However, one frequently comes across illustrations of incorrect and even impossible proportions. Clearly, the cutters took advantage of the ignorance of most of their customers. They had to compete with low-priced but ill-fashioned diamond of which there were plenty on the market. This is why, sadly, most of the old Brilliants, even the finest, were eventually refashioned.
The Influence Of The Far East
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
Hokusai is now generally regarded as one of the world’s great artists, worthy to rank with Rembrandt, Durer, and other giants. His ‘River Scene’, with the great bridge over the water and Fujiyama in the distance, shows his unsurpassed skill in the technique of his art, the largeness of his view, and the intense human interest with which he invested every scene he painted. A master of the first order as a draughtsman, Hokusai was also a daring pioneer as a colorist, being the first to combine the particular greens, blues, yellows, and browns which distinguish his famous series ‘Thirty six Views of Fujiyama,’ to use the telling contrast of red, bright blue, and brown seen in his ‘Views of te Loochoo Islands’, and to harmonise with infinite tenderness a whole gamut of greens and blues in his great designs based on carps. Hokusai lived to a great age, his death occurring when he was approaching his ninetieth birthday, and shortly before he expired he murmured, ‘If Fate had given me but five more years, I should have been able to become a true painter.’ He was not only one of the greatest and most poetic of the world’s artists, he was one of the most modest.
The beginning of the artistic influence of Japan on Europe is generally dated from the International Exhibition held at London in 1862, when the examples of Japanese art there shown made a profound impression on all who studied them. Seidlitz, in his History of Japanese Color Prints, gives the same date, but this authority traces the first discovery of Japanese art in Europe to a Japanese shop in the Rue de Rivoli, Paris. This shop, known as ‘La Porte Chinoise’ and owned by a dealer name Soye, was frequented by a number of artists who delighted in the color prints by Hokusai, Hiroshige, and others which they found there. To this shop came Manet, Degas, Monet, and other French artists afterwards to become famous, and to it also came a young American artist, James McNeill Whistler. The Japanese have a perfect instinct of decoration and consequently these color prints made an immediate and powerful appeal to a young artist who already had within him the instinct of decoration. In the work of Hokusai and Hiroshige, Whistler recognized those qualities which above all he desired to have in his own work.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Hokusai is now generally regarded as one of the world’s great artists, worthy to rank with Rembrandt, Durer, and other giants. His ‘River Scene’, with the great bridge over the water and Fujiyama in the distance, shows his unsurpassed skill in the technique of his art, the largeness of his view, and the intense human interest with which he invested every scene he painted. A master of the first order as a draughtsman, Hokusai was also a daring pioneer as a colorist, being the first to combine the particular greens, blues, yellows, and browns which distinguish his famous series ‘Thirty six Views of Fujiyama,’ to use the telling contrast of red, bright blue, and brown seen in his ‘Views of te Loochoo Islands’, and to harmonise with infinite tenderness a whole gamut of greens and blues in his great designs based on carps. Hokusai lived to a great age, his death occurring when he was approaching his ninetieth birthday, and shortly before he expired he murmured, ‘If Fate had given me but five more years, I should have been able to become a true painter.’ He was not only one of the greatest and most poetic of the world’s artists, he was one of the most modest.
The beginning of the artistic influence of Japan on Europe is generally dated from the International Exhibition held at London in 1862, when the examples of Japanese art there shown made a profound impression on all who studied them. Seidlitz, in his History of Japanese Color Prints, gives the same date, but this authority traces the first discovery of Japanese art in Europe to a Japanese shop in the Rue de Rivoli, Paris. This shop, known as ‘La Porte Chinoise’ and owned by a dealer name Soye, was frequented by a number of artists who delighted in the color prints by Hokusai, Hiroshige, and others which they found there. To this shop came Manet, Degas, Monet, and other French artists afterwards to become famous, and to it also came a young American artist, James McNeill Whistler. The Japanese have a perfect instinct of decoration and consequently these color prints made an immediate and powerful appeal to a young artist who already had within him the instinct of decoration. In the work of Hokusai and Hiroshige, Whistler recognized those qualities which above all he desired to have in his own work.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
No Dirty Gold
In a new report released by Earthworks + Oxfam America irresponsible mining continue to pollute air and water, and in some parts of the world, fuel violent conflict, at a time when metal prices are soaring, driving new mining development worldwide.
I think consumers can make a big difference by insisting mining companies to implement best practices that can be independently verified.
Useful links:
www.nodirtygold.org
www.earthworksaction.org
www.oxfamamerica.org
I think consumers can make a big difference by insisting mining companies to implement best practices that can be independently verified.
Useful links:
www.nodirtygold.org
www.earthworksaction.org
www.oxfamamerica.org
Money Laundering And Financial Crimes
I found the 2008 report on Money Laundering and Financial Crimes by numerous U.S government/international agencies @
http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2008/vol2/ interesting + insightful + I really don't know how effective the AML/CFT compliance programs are worldwide.
Useful links:
www.state.gov
www.imf.org
www.fincen.gov
www.worldbank.org
http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2008/vol2/ interesting + insightful + I really don't know how effective the AML/CFT compliance programs are worldwide.
Useful links:
www.state.gov
www.imf.org
www.fincen.gov
www.worldbank.org
Jean Nouvel
Jean Nouvel is a prolific French architect + he has designed a number of notable buildings across the world + he has been awarded his profession's highest honor--the 2008 Pritzker Prize.
I think his designs are different + connects the dots in a natural way.
Useful links:
www.jeannouvel.com
www.pritzkerprize.com
I think his designs are different + connects the dots in a natural way.
Useful links:
www.jeannouvel.com
www.pritzkerprize.com
Monday, March 31, 2008
Heard On The Street
Usually in the market when someone says I've never seen anything like this before, it means he/she is losing.
Vermeer's Hat
Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World by Timothy Brook is a great book + the writer takes one piece of porcelain in a painting by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer and uses it to explain 17th-century trade with China + he reflects on the cultural impacts of global commercial trade, an important era in the opening up of the world + I highly recommend the book.
Tanzanite Gem Miners Feared Dead
(via BBC) It has been reported that about 65 miners are feared dead after rainfall triggered the collapse of mines in the Mererani region, about 40km (25 miles) south-east of Arusha in north-eastern Tanzania + the area mines Tanzanite, a valuable violet-blue to blue gemstone found only in a small area near Arusha + Tanzania is also rich in diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires and is Africa's third-largest gold producer.
I think there will be some price adjustments in Tanzanite in the coming days due to unexpected events in Tanzania.
I think there will be some price adjustments in Tanzanite in the coming days due to unexpected events in Tanzania.
The Jubilee, Or Twentieth-Century, Cut
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The short-lived Jubilee Cut is said to have been created in the United States in honor of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The Jubilee itself was in 1897 but the cut did not appear until the beginning of the twentieth century. It is variously described, but appears to have been applied mainly to rough which was too thin for a well-made Brilliant. The illustrations are based on an actual gem weighing 2.63 ct, with a diameter of 8.85 x 8.95 mm and an overall height of 5.45 mm. It is slightly tinted J (Crystal) and somewhat scratched and abraded by wear. It could, however, be restored to flawless condition with very little loss of weight.
This cut may be described as an elaborate extension of the historical Pointed Star Cut, with five concentric rows of interlocking facets. The crown and the pavilion, though possessing forty facets each, are of totally different design from each other.
The short-lived Jubilee Cut is said to have been created in the United States in honor of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The Jubilee itself was in 1897 but the cut did not appear until the beginning of the twentieth century. It is variously described, but appears to have been applied mainly to rough which was too thin for a well-made Brilliant. The illustrations are based on an actual gem weighing 2.63 ct, with a diameter of 8.85 x 8.95 mm and an overall height of 5.45 mm. It is slightly tinted J (Crystal) and somewhat scratched and abraded by wear. It could, however, be restored to flawless condition with very little loss of weight.
This cut may be described as an elaborate extension of the historical Pointed Star Cut, with five concentric rows of interlocking facets. The crown and the pavilion, though possessing forty facets each, are of totally different design from each other.
The Influence Of The Far East
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
Japanese Color-prints And The Art of Whistler
1
To attempt any historical survey of the art of the East is beyond the scope of this Outline, but since several of the most distinguished Western painters of the nineteenth century were profoundly influenced by the art of China and Japan, it is necessary to make some brief mention of the wonderful art of the Far East and to record the genesis of its appreciation in Europe in order that we may perceive the part it played in shaping the style of certain modern masters.
Painting in water-colors on silk, or less often on paper, was practised in China from the earliest years of the Christian era. One of the oldest Chinese pictures known to exist is a scroll-painting called ‘Admonitions of the Instructress’ in the British Museum. This has been pronounced by experts to be a work of the fourth century, but has none of the characteristics of a primitive work executed when an art is in its infancy. The mastery of natural attitude and of the relation of figures to each other and the delicate expressiveness of the drawing prove that behind the art which produced it is a long history of development.
Chinese painting attained its highest excellence during the Sung Dynasty, i.e approximately between A.D 950 and 1250, and to this period belongs the masterly painting of ‘Two Geese’ in the British Museum. The exquisitely refined drawing and simple naturalism in this dignified bird painting show the high state of civilization in China at a time when Europe was only painfully emerging from the Dark Ages. We have only to turn back to the first chapter of this work and to compare the paintings of Cimabue or of Giotto with this still earlier picture from the East, to realize how superior was the naturalism of the Chinese artist to that of the most gifted of the earliest Europen painters. The art of the Sung period excelled in landscape and animal painting, and it was ‘inspired a mystical feeling for Nature (akin to that expressed by Wordsworth’s poetry) which gives a serious beauty to its treatment of simple or seemingly insignificant subjects.’
It is only in quite recent times, however, that Western artists have been attracted by the nobility of early Chinese art. In the nineteenth century Chinese paintings were scarce and little known in Europe, and the first examples of Oriental art made familiar to Europe were color prints from Japan. Though te Japanese today have a deservedly high reputation as an artistic nation, China was their intructress in all the arts. The art of printing in colors from a number of wood blocks in succession was practised in China in the seventeenth century, perhaps earlier, but it was not till the eighteenth century that it flourished in Japan. In that country the demand for a popular art had fostered a school of painting devoted to themes of daily life, and the woodcut provided a cheap means of multiplying designs. At first, in the early part of the eighteenth century, these woodcuts were colored by hand, then prints were made in two colors, rose-red and green, and in 1764 the first full-colored prints, known as ‘brocade prints,’ were issued. Harunobu (1705-72) was the first master to use te new invention, which during the next hundred years was to produce the most beautiful examples of color printing that the world has seen.
From the time of Harunobu to the death of Utamaro in 1806, a succession of artists poured forth a series of these popular pictures, which were sold for the merest trifle, chiefly to the working classes of Japan. The painters of Japan catered for aristocratic tastes and were patronized by the wealthy and eminent, but the makers of color-prints were democratic both in origin and aim and were regarded socially as artisans rather than artists. The aristocratic painters of Japan, like those of China, were symbolists, whose work conveyed subtle allusions to educated Orientals; but the designers of color prints were realists, who rendered the common life of everyday people. Among the Japanese this art, despised by the higher classes, was named the ‘Mirror of the Passing World.’ With the common people of Japan the drama was an overwhelming passion, and consequently the subjects of innumerablle color prints are taken from the stage, which provided endless themes. In all the earlier Japanese color prints figures predominate, but after the death of Utamaro a great artist arose in Hokusai (1760-1849), who invented a new landscape style. Hokusai was followed by other great landscape artists, Hiroshige (1796-1858) and his successor Hiroshige II, who worked c. 1840-65, and the splendid landscape designs by these artists were the first to make their influence felt in Europe.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Japanese Color-prints And The Art of Whistler
1
To attempt any historical survey of the art of the East is beyond the scope of this Outline, but since several of the most distinguished Western painters of the nineteenth century were profoundly influenced by the art of China and Japan, it is necessary to make some brief mention of the wonderful art of the Far East and to record the genesis of its appreciation in Europe in order that we may perceive the part it played in shaping the style of certain modern masters.
Painting in water-colors on silk, or less often on paper, was practised in China from the earliest years of the Christian era. One of the oldest Chinese pictures known to exist is a scroll-painting called ‘Admonitions of the Instructress’ in the British Museum. This has been pronounced by experts to be a work of the fourth century, but has none of the characteristics of a primitive work executed when an art is in its infancy. The mastery of natural attitude and of the relation of figures to each other and the delicate expressiveness of the drawing prove that behind the art which produced it is a long history of development.
Chinese painting attained its highest excellence during the Sung Dynasty, i.e approximately between A.D 950 and 1250, and to this period belongs the masterly painting of ‘Two Geese’ in the British Museum. The exquisitely refined drawing and simple naturalism in this dignified bird painting show the high state of civilization in China at a time when Europe was only painfully emerging from the Dark Ages. We have only to turn back to the first chapter of this work and to compare the paintings of Cimabue or of Giotto with this still earlier picture from the East, to realize how superior was the naturalism of the Chinese artist to that of the most gifted of the earliest Europen painters. The art of the Sung period excelled in landscape and animal painting, and it was ‘inspired a mystical feeling for Nature (akin to that expressed by Wordsworth’s poetry) which gives a serious beauty to its treatment of simple or seemingly insignificant subjects.’
It is only in quite recent times, however, that Western artists have been attracted by the nobility of early Chinese art. In the nineteenth century Chinese paintings were scarce and little known in Europe, and the first examples of Oriental art made familiar to Europe were color prints from Japan. Though te Japanese today have a deservedly high reputation as an artistic nation, China was their intructress in all the arts. The art of printing in colors from a number of wood blocks in succession was practised in China in the seventeenth century, perhaps earlier, but it was not till the eighteenth century that it flourished in Japan. In that country the demand for a popular art had fostered a school of painting devoted to themes of daily life, and the woodcut provided a cheap means of multiplying designs. At first, in the early part of the eighteenth century, these woodcuts were colored by hand, then prints were made in two colors, rose-red and green, and in 1764 the first full-colored prints, known as ‘brocade prints,’ were issued. Harunobu (1705-72) was the first master to use te new invention, which during the next hundred years was to produce the most beautiful examples of color printing that the world has seen.
From the time of Harunobu to the death of Utamaro in 1806, a succession of artists poured forth a series of these popular pictures, which were sold for the merest trifle, chiefly to the working classes of Japan. The painters of Japan catered for aristocratic tastes and were patronized by the wealthy and eminent, but the makers of color-prints were democratic both in origin and aim and were regarded socially as artisans rather than artists. The aristocratic painters of Japan, like those of China, were symbolists, whose work conveyed subtle allusions to educated Orientals; but the designers of color prints were realists, who rendered the common life of everyday people. Among the Japanese this art, despised by the higher classes, was named the ‘Mirror of the Passing World.’ With the common people of Japan the drama was an overwhelming passion, and consequently the subjects of innumerablle color prints are taken from the stage, which provided endless themes. In all the earlier Japanese color prints figures predominate, but after the death of Utamaro a great artist arose in Hokusai (1760-1849), who invented a new landscape style. Hokusai was followed by other great landscape artists, Hiroshige (1796-1858) and his successor Hiroshige II, who worked c. 1840-65, and the splendid landscape designs by these artists were the first to make their influence felt in Europe.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Art + Commerce + Technology Model
I like the concept of pairing art with commerce and technology because artists are amorphous and have an inquisitive mind + when you have an open-minded environment with the right attitude, there will be spontaneous interaction between the faculties of mind, resulting in natural synthesis and orderly crystallization of ideas into functional formats.
Useful links:
http://shl.stanford.edu
www.julie9.org
http://montalvoarts.org
www.aec.at
Useful links:
http://shl.stanford.edu
www.julie9.org
http://montalvoarts.org
www.aec.at
Energy Update
The article The Clean Energy Scam by Michael Grunwald @ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1725975,00.html was informative + spot on because no one knows the long term pros and cons of diverting grain and oilseed crops from dinner plates to fuel tanks + with billions in investment capital via multinational companies worldwide the biofuels boom/bust are going to haunt us for generations like the dot-com era.
Useful links:
www.wetlands.org
www.wfp.org
www.conservation.org
www.whrc.org
www.edf.org
www.nrdc.org
www.earth-policy.org
www.cargill.com
www.carlyle.com
www.ge.com
www.bp.com
www.grupomaggi.com.br
www.ford.com
www.shell.com
www.georgesoros.com
www.richardbranson.com
Useful links:
www.wetlands.org
www.wfp.org
www.conservation.org
www.whrc.org
www.edf.org
www.nrdc.org
www.earth-policy.org
www.cargill.com
www.carlyle.com
www.ge.com
www.bp.com
www.grupomaggi.com.br
www.ford.com
www.shell.com
www.georgesoros.com
www.richardbranson.com
Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is a series of comic books created by Belgian artist Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi + in my view the expressive drawings in Hergé's signature ligne claire style is engaging, in a variety of genres + I'm a big fan of TinTin , and now Thomas Sangster, from south London, has been chosen by Steven Spielberg to be his Tintin for a three-movie adaptation of the boy reporter's adventures.
Useful links:
www.tintin.com
http://tintinmovie.org
Useful links:
www.tintin.com
http://tintinmovie.org
Ultra Fast Lasers
I found the article on Ultra Fast Lasers + properties @ http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10918079 informative + in adddition to its applicatons in engineering, computing and medicine, I must add that they have become very important in analytical gemology, especially with detecting gemstone treatments and synthetics.
Edward Weston
Edward Weston was an American photographer + he is generally recognized as one of the greatest photographic artists of the 20th century + The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson houses a full archive of Edward Weston's work.
I like the tone of black/white photographs, and Edward Weston's works have that natural look and clarity.
Useful links:
www.edward-weston.com
www.creativephotography.org
I like the tone of black/white photographs, and Edward Weston's works have that natural look and clarity.
Useful links:
www.edward-weston.com
www.creativephotography.org
Two Multi-Faceted Split Cuts
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
I once analyzed an exceptional diamond in the surviving top section of an Order of the Golden Fleece made for Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, in about 1750. The diamond is oval, a Brilliant Cut with fifty six facets round its sixteeen-sided table, far more than on the Tiffany diamond. The star facets and the two different types of girdle facets are split, and the main facets do not even extend to the girdle. In contrast, the pavilion is simply divided into eight main facets round a small octagonal culet. The gem is exceptionally well proportioned, and this, combined with its perfect symmetry, makes it equally brilliant all over. Unfortunately, it is distinctly flawed and I graded it as an I (first Piqué). The surrounding gems are all normal Brilliants. The diamond measured approximately 20 x 17 mm and I calculated its weight as being about 50 ct.
A seventeenth-century experimental Brilliant with radially split facets is illustrated in the catalogue of Philip Hope’s famous collection, Pearls and Precious Stones (1893). Herz describes the gem simply as ‘a brilliant of a square shape, with rounded corners, weighing 5¼ ct.’ In addition to an octagonal table, the gem has forty-eight facets in the crown. There is one inner row of short main facets, and another row, split radially, touching the girdle. There are also normal star and girdle facets. The pavilion is not described.
I once analyzed an exceptional diamond in the surviving top section of an Order of the Golden Fleece made for Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, in about 1750. The diamond is oval, a Brilliant Cut with fifty six facets round its sixteeen-sided table, far more than on the Tiffany diamond. The star facets and the two different types of girdle facets are split, and the main facets do not even extend to the girdle. In contrast, the pavilion is simply divided into eight main facets round a small octagonal culet. The gem is exceptionally well proportioned, and this, combined with its perfect symmetry, makes it equally brilliant all over. Unfortunately, it is distinctly flawed and I graded it as an I (first Piqué). The surrounding gems are all normal Brilliants. The diamond measured approximately 20 x 17 mm and I calculated its weight as being about 50 ct.
A seventeenth-century experimental Brilliant with radially split facets is illustrated in the catalogue of Philip Hope’s famous collection, Pearls and Precious Stones (1893). Herz describes the gem simply as ‘a brilliant of a square shape, with rounded corners, weighing 5¼ ct.’ In addition to an octagonal table, the gem has forty-eight facets in the crown. There is one inner row of short main facets, and another row, split radially, touching the girdle. There are also normal star and girdle facets. The pavilion is not described.
The Modern Dutch School
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
Nevertheless it is important to note that there is not the same note of romanticism in pictures he painted only two years earlier. In 1868 Matthew joined his brother James in Paris, and we may see in the National Gallery a little picture he painted there in 1870. ‘Montmartre,’ as it is called, shows us dust-carts tipping rubbish on the side of a hill which has a windmill at the top. It is beautifully painted, perfect in its refined realism, but it is not romantic.
When the Franco-Prussian war broke out, James Maris returned to Holland. Matthew remained, went through the siege of Paris, and, like other residents, was enrolled in the Municipal Guard and called out for duty. His post was on the fortifications, opposite Asniéres and just under Mont Valérien, and he suffered considerably from the bitter cold during night duty. Military life was not congenial to this gentle artist, and the thought of killing anybody was abhorrent to him. He confessed afterwards, ‘I never put a bullet in my gun, but only pretended to do so!’
His war experiences certainly did Matthew Maris no good; they saddened him and tended to make him shrink into himself, so that he became more and more of a recluse. After the siege Matthew Maris came to London in 1872, and there he remained to the end of his days. He had rooms at first in the house of an art decorator named Daniel Cottier in St James’s Terrace, Regent’s Park, and Cottier, a strong active business man, had much influence over him, telling him what sort of pictures he ought to paint. Although Cottier, an admirer of Rossetti, undoubtedly encouraged the romantic element in the Dutch artist. Matthew Maris rebelled at painting under his direction and professed that he was thoroughly unhappy in his house. Yet between 1872 and 1875, when he was under the spell of Cottier, Matthew Maris painted what are generally considered to be his finest pictures. Among them we may mention ‘The Girl at the Well’ and ‘Feeding Chickens’, painted in 1872; ‘The Christening’ and ‘Enfant Couchée’, in 1873; ‘He is Coming’—in 1874; and ‘The Sisters’ in 1875. Yet even these works, full of indescribable poetry and romantic beauty, failed to satisfy the artist, who in after years would speak of them as ‘potboilers’ which he had compelled to paint by a tyrannical taskmaster.
Though discontended and professedly unhappy, Matthew Maris was slow to leave what he regarded as a house of bondage, and it was not till 1887—and then chiefly because Mrs Cottier was in ill-health—that he finally left. He went to 47 St John’s Wood Terrace, intending to remain there only a fortnight, while he looked around for a more convenient studio, and he stayed there nineteen years. In 1906 he found a home at 18 Westbourne Square, Paddington, in a half-flat with a small painting room, and in this modest abode, tended by a faithful housekeeper, he remained till he died on August 17, 1917. He seldom went out and he had few visitors, the most intimate friends of his later years being the Dutch picture-dealer, Mr E J Van Wisselingh and his wife, a Scottish lady, daughter of Mr Craibe Angus, of Glasgow, who had been one of the earliest British patrons of Matthew Maris. His later paintings became more and more mysterious; instead of the clear outlines of his earlier pictures, forms were seen dimly as through a mist, and these pictures he would work over and over many times, each re-painting seeming to cast a new veil over faces and figures that became more and more spiritual. Had he wished, Matthew Maris might have had fortune as well as fame, for there were ardent collectors in many countries eager to secure examples of his works, but his means were straightened largely because he could with difficulty bring himself to part with a picture and desired to keep them all in his painting room. In 1911 a Dutch admirer of his work, Mr Thomsen, of The Hague, offered to the compatriot of whom he was proud a small pension. This the painter accepted, and the pension was continued till his death.
An abnormal being, Matthew Maris was ‘alone in the world’ because he chose of his own accord to live the life of a hermit shut up with his dreams.
Nevertheless it is important to note that there is not the same note of romanticism in pictures he painted only two years earlier. In 1868 Matthew joined his brother James in Paris, and we may see in the National Gallery a little picture he painted there in 1870. ‘Montmartre,’ as it is called, shows us dust-carts tipping rubbish on the side of a hill which has a windmill at the top. It is beautifully painted, perfect in its refined realism, but it is not romantic.
When the Franco-Prussian war broke out, James Maris returned to Holland. Matthew remained, went through the siege of Paris, and, like other residents, was enrolled in the Municipal Guard and called out for duty. His post was on the fortifications, opposite Asniéres and just under Mont Valérien, and he suffered considerably from the bitter cold during night duty. Military life was not congenial to this gentle artist, and the thought of killing anybody was abhorrent to him. He confessed afterwards, ‘I never put a bullet in my gun, but only pretended to do so!’
His war experiences certainly did Matthew Maris no good; they saddened him and tended to make him shrink into himself, so that he became more and more of a recluse. After the siege Matthew Maris came to London in 1872, and there he remained to the end of his days. He had rooms at first in the house of an art decorator named Daniel Cottier in St James’s Terrace, Regent’s Park, and Cottier, a strong active business man, had much influence over him, telling him what sort of pictures he ought to paint. Although Cottier, an admirer of Rossetti, undoubtedly encouraged the romantic element in the Dutch artist. Matthew Maris rebelled at painting under his direction and professed that he was thoroughly unhappy in his house. Yet between 1872 and 1875, when he was under the spell of Cottier, Matthew Maris painted what are generally considered to be his finest pictures. Among them we may mention ‘The Girl at the Well’ and ‘Feeding Chickens’, painted in 1872; ‘The Christening’ and ‘Enfant Couchée’, in 1873; ‘He is Coming’—in 1874; and ‘The Sisters’ in 1875. Yet even these works, full of indescribable poetry and romantic beauty, failed to satisfy the artist, who in after years would speak of them as ‘potboilers’ which he had compelled to paint by a tyrannical taskmaster.
Though discontended and professedly unhappy, Matthew Maris was slow to leave what he regarded as a house of bondage, and it was not till 1887—and then chiefly because Mrs Cottier was in ill-health—that he finally left. He went to 47 St John’s Wood Terrace, intending to remain there only a fortnight, while he looked around for a more convenient studio, and he stayed there nineteen years. In 1906 he found a home at 18 Westbourne Square, Paddington, in a half-flat with a small painting room, and in this modest abode, tended by a faithful housekeeper, he remained till he died on August 17, 1917. He seldom went out and he had few visitors, the most intimate friends of his later years being the Dutch picture-dealer, Mr E J Van Wisselingh and his wife, a Scottish lady, daughter of Mr Craibe Angus, of Glasgow, who had been one of the earliest British patrons of Matthew Maris. His later paintings became more and more mysterious; instead of the clear outlines of his earlier pictures, forms were seen dimly as through a mist, and these pictures he would work over and over many times, each re-painting seeming to cast a new veil over faces and figures that became more and more spiritual. Had he wished, Matthew Maris might have had fortune as well as fame, for there were ardent collectors in many countries eager to secure examples of his works, but his means were straightened largely because he could with difficulty bring himself to part with a picture and desired to keep them all in his painting room. In 1911 a Dutch admirer of his work, Mr Thomsen, of The Hague, offered to the compatriot of whom he was proud a small pension. This the painter accepted, and the pension was continued till his death.
An abnormal being, Matthew Maris was ‘alone in the world’ because he chose of his own accord to live the life of a hermit shut up with his dreams.
Random Thoughts
(via Seeking alpha, Fashion Industry: Move Over Money Men, The Biz Men Are Back, March 28, 2008) Lauren Goldstein Crowe writes:
I think that fashion schools really owe it to their students to start offering basic classes in business. The designers who land big corporate jobs seem to lack understanding of how those structures work to enable them such freedom. Life without the corporate suits system may seem ideal -- and if you can finance your own business, it probably is. But if you've got to go hat in hand to others for money, you might be surprised what a cold hard place the world of business is. No matter how big your name recognition, no matter how great your talent, no one worth getting money from is going to give a designer money without asking for control. I mean, would you?
Brilliant! She was spot on.
I think that fashion schools really owe it to their students to start offering basic classes in business. The designers who land big corporate jobs seem to lack understanding of how those structures work to enable them such freedom. Life without the corporate suits system may seem ideal -- and if you can finance your own business, it probably is. But if you've got to go hat in hand to others for money, you might be surprised what a cold hard place the world of business is. No matter how big your name recognition, no matter how great your talent, no one worth getting money from is going to give a designer money without asking for control. I mean, would you?
Brilliant! She was spot on.
China's Growing Luxury Market
I found the article on China’s growing luxury market @ http://www.investorideas.com/articles/032608a.asp intriguing because understanding China’s consumer needs require special skills, unlimited patience and excellent local network support + long-term commitment to stay put + the reality is only a very few outsiders succeed in China + it's shocking, but that's the truth!
Useful link:
www.investorideas.com
Useful link:
www.investorideas.com
The Theory Of The Leisure Class
The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen + Robert Lekachman is considered one of the great works of economics + Veblen argues that economic life is driven not by notions of utility, but by social vestiges from pre-historic times (true!) + what's amazing to me is this book although written over 100 years ago is still valid + being brought up in a consumercentric society I see a heavily included portrait of myself in this book--a unique total internal reflection + it's a must-read book.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
A Famous Opal
The extraordinary opal dubbed, 'Flame Queen' (263.18 carats), was discovered in 1914 at the Bald Hill Workings in Lightning Ridge, Australia by three partners: Jack Phillips, Walter Bradley and Joe Hegarty + and now International fine arts auctioneers Bonhams & Butterfields will offer in its June 22, 2008 sale the most famous and recognizable opal in the world.
Useful link:
www.bonhams.com
Useful link:
www.bonhams.com
Run Fatboy Run
Run Fatboy Run is one-of-a-kind gentle comedy movie with its own message + I liked it.
I think you'll enjoy the movie.
Useful links:
www.runfatboyrunmovie.com
www.runfatboyrunmovie.co.uk
I think you'll enjoy the movie.
Useful links:
www.runfatboyrunmovie.com
www.runfatboyrunmovie.co.uk
U.S. Government Views On Laundering In The Diamond Industry
Chaim Even Zohar writes about the just-released report on money laundering and financial crimes by the U.S Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) + the country profile (s) + other viewpoints @
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp
The Tiffany
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The golden-yellow Tiffany is not only a typical Stellar Cut Brilliant with a star-like arrangement of small facets round the culet, but the crown is stepped, which consequently involves splitting the main facets. This was a standard procedure. The pavilion, however, received three steps: between the regular two steps a third shallow step was applied, which was probably unique. This involved the splitting of the lower main facets into two triangular and one flat keystone-shaped facet. Consequently the Tiffany diamond received forty actual facets on the crown and forty eight facets on the pavilion, plus the compulsory table and culet—in all, ninety facets compared with the fifty-six plus two facets of the standard Brilliant Cut.
No one has ever explained why such a bulky step cut was applied to this diamond. It seems that priority was given to weight retention, since the prestige of a diamond dependend at that time primarily on its weight. Dr Kunz stated ‘that this unprecedented number of facets was given the stone not to make it more brilliant, but less brilliant. The stone was of yellow color, and it was thought better to give it the effect of a smothered. Smouldering fire than one of flashing radiance.’ The stone has the unusual feature, in a yellow diamond, of retaining its color by artificial light. The designers decided to ignore the modern rules of proportioning (such as those introduced to America by Morse) since these would have produced a Brilliant of well below the magic figure of 100ct, which entitles a diamond to the name ‘Paragon’. Here, even the classic proportions would not have done—a Brilliant with the width and length of this stone (27mm and 28.25mm) with 45° angles would have barely weighed 100ct.
In the end, a number of solutions were found. Obviously, the diameter of the finished gem was weighed against a symmetrical outline. But the height of the crown, the thickness of the girdle and the depth of the pavilion could all be substantially increased. In fact they managed to retain a vertical measurement of 81.5 per cent (22.2mm) as compared with Jeffries 68 per cent and the modern 60 per cent.
The convex silhouette shows not only the weight saved through stepping but also an exceptionally high crown and deep pavilion. Other measures were taken in order to produce desired light effects. An exact calculation was made of the angles of reflection and refraction of light and the culet was given a size which made it act as a reflector. Until the Tiffany diamond is professionally examined two queries remain unsolved: the four extra facets on the pavilion, adjacent to the girdle, and the often mentioned seventeen polished spots on the girdle which, according to a check-up at the premises of Tiffany in 1945, are ‘no true facets’.
We know that the rough, a fine octahedron weighing 287.42 ct, was found in about 1878 in what appears to have been the French-owned part of the De Beers mines. It was shipped to Paris where it was shown to the Tiffany representatives. The firm’s eminent gemologist, George F Kunz, was commissioned to help plan the fashioning of it into the most magnificent gem possible. The result was extraordinary, as we have seen. The finished gem has the amazing weight of 128.51ct. It was, until recently, the largest golden-yellow diamond in the world. According to the official invoice from a Paris office, the Tiffany diamond was shipped to New York on the City of Chester on 15 June 1880, and was listed with a number of other gems ‘on consignment’ at 100,000 French francs.
The golden-yellow Tiffany is not only a typical Stellar Cut Brilliant with a star-like arrangement of small facets round the culet, but the crown is stepped, which consequently involves splitting the main facets. This was a standard procedure. The pavilion, however, received three steps: between the regular two steps a third shallow step was applied, which was probably unique. This involved the splitting of the lower main facets into two triangular and one flat keystone-shaped facet. Consequently the Tiffany diamond received forty actual facets on the crown and forty eight facets on the pavilion, plus the compulsory table and culet—in all, ninety facets compared with the fifty-six plus two facets of the standard Brilliant Cut.
No one has ever explained why such a bulky step cut was applied to this diamond. It seems that priority was given to weight retention, since the prestige of a diamond dependend at that time primarily on its weight. Dr Kunz stated ‘that this unprecedented number of facets was given the stone not to make it more brilliant, but less brilliant. The stone was of yellow color, and it was thought better to give it the effect of a smothered. Smouldering fire than one of flashing radiance.’ The stone has the unusual feature, in a yellow diamond, of retaining its color by artificial light. The designers decided to ignore the modern rules of proportioning (such as those introduced to America by Morse) since these would have produced a Brilliant of well below the magic figure of 100ct, which entitles a diamond to the name ‘Paragon’. Here, even the classic proportions would not have done—a Brilliant with the width and length of this stone (27mm and 28.25mm) with 45° angles would have barely weighed 100ct.
In the end, a number of solutions were found. Obviously, the diameter of the finished gem was weighed against a symmetrical outline. But the height of the crown, the thickness of the girdle and the depth of the pavilion could all be substantially increased. In fact they managed to retain a vertical measurement of 81.5 per cent (22.2mm) as compared with Jeffries 68 per cent and the modern 60 per cent.
The convex silhouette shows not only the weight saved through stepping but also an exceptionally high crown and deep pavilion. Other measures were taken in order to produce desired light effects. An exact calculation was made of the angles of reflection and refraction of light and the culet was given a size which made it act as a reflector. Until the Tiffany diamond is professionally examined two queries remain unsolved: the four extra facets on the pavilion, adjacent to the girdle, and the often mentioned seventeen polished spots on the girdle which, according to a check-up at the premises of Tiffany in 1945, are ‘no true facets’.
We know that the rough, a fine octahedron weighing 287.42 ct, was found in about 1878 in what appears to have been the French-owned part of the De Beers mines. It was shipped to Paris where it was shown to the Tiffany representatives. The firm’s eminent gemologist, George F Kunz, was commissioned to help plan the fashioning of it into the most magnificent gem possible. The result was extraordinary, as we have seen. The finished gem has the amazing weight of 128.51ct. It was, until recently, the largest golden-yellow diamond in the world. According to the official invoice from a Paris office, the Tiffany diamond was shipped to New York on the City of Chester on 15 June 1880, and was listed with a number of other gems ‘on consignment’ at 100,000 French francs.
The Modern Dutch School
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
It was not till he was nearing thirty that James Maris changed his manner of painting and acquired the style which eventually brought him fame. In 1865 he went to Paris, where he remained for six years, and there, under the influence of the Barbizon masters, he gradually broadened his style, abandoning his former intimacy of detail and now aiming at a more general effect of grandeur. Henceforward he devoted himself almost exclusively to landscape, and though the change of his style was brought about by French painting, his mature work is akin to that of Ruysdael in the nobility and majesty of its outlook. We can hardly escape thinking of Ruysdael’s ‘Mill’ when we see ‘The Stone Mill’ by James Maris in the Mesdag Museum; a picturesque stone mill, with an open gallery round it, makes a stately figure against a sky with white drifting clouds. In the foreground are sandhills, in the distance the red roofs of a village, but though the accessories taken together make up a scene quite distinct from that shown in Ruysdael’s famous picture, both pictures have a touch of sublimity in the dignity of their design. Equally characteristic of the way in which this artist subordinates particular objects to the general effect is his painting of ‘Dordrecht’. All details are merged in these masses of light and shade, yet everyone who has seen this town at eventide will agree that the painter has given us the essential characteristic of the ‘Venice of the North’, its Groote Kerke, its shipping, its wide canals, and the rolling grey sky overhead, and has presented these with incomparable dignity and grandeur.
William Maris is more limited in his range than either of his brothers, and though in their early days the work of all three showed a certain similarity of style, William’s work altered least in style and in subject. He is nearer to Roelofs than either of his brothers, and his favorite subjects were landscapes with cattle, which he painted, as a rule, in full daylight, so that his pictures are rather brighter and gayer in color than those of his brothers. A meadow extending along the border of the sandhills, in which are seen a few stunted trees and some cows, a pond perhaps in the immediate foreground, and a cloudy sky overhead, this is a typical William Maris subject. Less poetic than Mauve, less grand than his brother James, and less romantic than his brother Matthew, William Maris was a happy realist whose rich colored pictures are full of sunshine and mirror the luxuriant greens of Holland’s pasturelands.
Matthew Maris stands apart from his brothers and from all the Dutch artists of his generation. He was different in his temperament, different in his life, and different in his art. Tracing it to his foreign extraction, to his Austrian, or, as we should now say, to his Czecho-Slovak blood, Professor Muther says there broke out in Matthew Maris a ‘Teutonic medieval mysticism’ from which his brothers were free. Matthew no doubt possessed that he was influenced by the romantic mediavalism of Rossetti. It was in England that Matthew Maris painted his most charcteristic pictures, and in England, where he lived for forty five years, he drifted apart from his brethren in his art as in his life.
The beginnings of Matthew were almost parallel with those of James. The two brothers studied, as we have seen, at The Hague and Antwerp, and they were together in Paris. One incident must be chronicled which appears to have had far more influence on Matthew than on James. In 1858 the two brothers were back from Antwerp at The Hague, and three years later, having made some money by copying pictures, the two set out together on a tour through the Black Forest to Switzerland, returning through France by Dijon to the Puy-de-Dôme. Matthew was tremendously impressed by the romantic castles and buildings he saw in Central France; to his poetic imagination they were enchanted palaces. The recollection of this tour never faded from his mind, and in pictures painted years afterwards we catch echoes of the turrets and battlements which remained fixed in his memory. We may see evidence of this in the background of ‘Feeding Chickens’, painted in 1872.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
It was not till he was nearing thirty that James Maris changed his manner of painting and acquired the style which eventually brought him fame. In 1865 he went to Paris, where he remained for six years, and there, under the influence of the Barbizon masters, he gradually broadened his style, abandoning his former intimacy of detail and now aiming at a more general effect of grandeur. Henceforward he devoted himself almost exclusively to landscape, and though the change of his style was brought about by French painting, his mature work is akin to that of Ruysdael in the nobility and majesty of its outlook. We can hardly escape thinking of Ruysdael’s ‘Mill’ when we see ‘The Stone Mill’ by James Maris in the Mesdag Museum; a picturesque stone mill, with an open gallery round it, makes a stately figure against a sky with white drifting clouds. In the foreground are sandhills, in the distance the red roofs of a village, but though the accessories taken together make up a scene quite distinct from that shown in Ruysdael’s famous picture, both pictures have a touch of sublimity in the dignity of their design. Equally characteristic of the way in which this artist subordinates particular objects to the general effect is his painting of ‘Dordrecht’. All details are merged in these masses of light and shade, yet everyone who has seen this town at eventide will agree that the painter has given us the essential characteristic of the ‘Venice of the North’, its Groote Kerke, its shipping, its wide canals, and the rolling grey sky overhead, and has presented these with incomparable dignity and grandeur.
William Maris is more limited in his range than either of his brothers, and though in their early days the work of all three showed a certain similarity of style, William’s work altered least in style and in subject. He is nearer to Roelofs than either of his brothers, and his favorite subjects were landscapes with cattle, which he painted, as a rule, in full daylight, so that his pictures are rather brighter and gayer in color than those of his brothers. A meadow extending along the border of the sandhills, in which are seen a few stunted trees and some cows, a pond perhaps in the immediate foreground, and a cloudy sky overhead, this is a typical William Maris subject. Less poetic than Mauve, less grand than his brother James, and less romantic than his brother Matthew, William Maris was a happy realist whose rich colored pictures are full of sunshine and mirror the luxuriant greens of Holland’s pasturelands.
Matthew Maris stands apart from his brothers and from all the Dutch artists of his generation. He was different in his temperament, different in his life, and different in his art. Tracing it to his foreign extraction, to his Austrian, or, as we should now say, to his Czecho-Slovak blood, Professor Muther says there broke out in Matthew Maris a ‘Teutonic medieval mysticism’ from which his brothers were free. Matthew no doubt possessed that he was influenced by the romantic mediavalism of Rossetti. It was in England that Matthew Maris painted his most charcteristic pictures, and in England, where he lived for forty five years, he drifted apart from his brethren in his art as in his life.
The beginnings of Matthew were almost parallel with those of James. The two brothers studied, as we have seen, at The Hague and Antwerp, and they were together in Paris. One incident must be chronicled which appears to have had far more influence on Matthew than on James. In 1858 the two brothers were back from Antwerp at The Hague, and three years later, having made some money by copying pictures, the two set out together on a tour through the Black Forest to Switzerland, returning through France by Dijon to the Puy-de-Dôme. Matthew was tremendously impressed by the romantic castles and buildings he saw in Central France; to his poetic imagination they were enchanted palaces. The recollection of this tour never faded from his mind, and in pictures painted years afterwards we catch echoes of the turrets and battlements which remained fixed in his memory. We may see evidence of this in the background of ‘Feeding Chickens’, painted in 1872.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
Friday, March 28, 2008
The Highest Altitude Vineyard On The Planet
Swiss entrepreneur Donald Hess's Colomé ranch/winery/luxury resort in Argentina is emerging as the next must-visit destination for wine-loving adventurers + the grapevines at 9,849 feet above sea level is believed to be the highest altitude vineyard on the planet.
Useful link:
www.bodegacolome.com
Useful link:
www.bodegacolome.com
Martin Scorsese’s Concert Movie
Shine a Light is a 2008 documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese that chronicles two 2006 performances from rock and roll band The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour + the film takes its title from the song of the same name, featured on the band's 1972 album Exile on Main St.
Useful links:
www.shinealightmovie.com
www.scorsesefilms.com
Useful links:
www.shinealightmovie.com
www.scorsesefilms.com
Entrepreneurship Update
The artilce on innovation + entrepreneurship @ http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1926.cfm was brilliant + very useful.
Rob Glaser: innovation + timing + good idea + luck = success
Glenn A. Britt: consumer orientation + technology + viable financial model + branding + creative thinking = success
Rob Glaser: innovation + timing + good idea + luck = success
Glenn A. Britt: consumer orientation + technology + viable financial model + branding + creative thinking = success
Azalea
Azaleas are called the royalty of the garden + they always remind me of the colors in tourmaline + in my view flowers are like colored gemstones and they are delightful to watch.
Useful link:
www.azaleas.org
Useful link:
www.azaleas.org
Gemstone Enhancement Disclosure Update
A discussion featuring Robin Spector of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Cecilia Gardner of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) and Christopher Smith of American Gemological Laboratories Inc (AGL) is now available on video @ Aglgemlab.com
In my view disclosure of gemstone treatments should be mandatory at all levels but the point is many colored stone + diamond dealers and jewelers don't know how to disclose without losing a sale + I have seen endless presentations by experts of all hues saying the same thing, yet it's getting more difficult to enforce.
Useful links:
www.ftc.gov
www.jvclegal.org
www.aglgemlab.com
In my view disclosure of gemstone treatments should be mandatory at all levels but the point is many colored stone + diamond dealers and jewelers don't know how to disclose without losing a sale + I have seen endless presentations by experts of all hues saying the same thing, yet it's getting more difficult to enforce.
Useful links:
www.ftc.gov
www.jvclegal.org
www.aglgemlab.com
Art Gambler's Market
Seth Mydans article on the peculiar state of the Indonesian art market titled, Buyers jump on Indonesia as next Asian art tiger @ http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/26/arts/indoart.php?page=2 was intriguing because in the world of paintings-to-order/I-don't-know-what-I-want, investors are looking in all directions to make money while at the same time immature artists are busy painting for the market to meet the high demand, losing character and soul + in my view, it looks like an art stampede, killing themselves + I hope the speculators/artists will learn their lessons quickly before it's too late.
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
To celebrate the tercentenary of Benjamin Franklin's birth, Paris (Musée des Arts et Métiers + Musée Carnavalet) is hosting two exhibitions exploring his life and his connection with France.
Useful links:
Musée Carnavalet
www.paris.fr
Musée des Arts at Metiers
www.arts-et-metiers.net
Benjamin Franklin tercentenary
www.benfranklin300.org
Useful links:
Musée Carnavalet
www.paris.fr
Musée des Arts at Metiers
www.arts-et-metiers.net
Benjamin Franklin tercentenary
www.benfranklin300.org
Stepped And Split Brilliants
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
In diamond literature we often come across illustrations of a split-facet Brilliant, sometimes entitled the Lisbon Cut. The term has perhaps come from a Portuguese publication which has used it, like the term Brazilian Cut, to describe those fancy cuts so often applied when the cutter was aiming at retaining the greatest possible weight. Other terms are used as well: Max Bauer described it as ‘a Brilliant Cut with elongated facets’. Sperison (1961), and Hertz (1839) simply said ‘with a great number of facets’. Dr Kunz (1890) gave no description at all of this type of cut, not even with reference to the golden yellow Tiffany diamond.
As far as I can ascertain, no author seems to have realized that splitting facets lengthwise necessarily involves stepping. A facet edge can obviously not be applied to a flat surface, and the two sections of a bisected facet must always meet at an angle, no matter how blunt that angle may be. Watermeyer interprets this as ‘probably an attempt to flatten the very steep angles of these facets in an attempt to produce more light reflection from inside. This could be proof that certain cutters might have been aware of the prismatic effect of the cut diamond.
In diamond literature we often come across illustrations of a split-facet Brilliant, sometimes entitled the Lisbon Cut. The term has perhaps come from a Portuguese publication which has used it, like the term Brazilian Cut, to describe those fancy cuts so often applied when the cutter was aiming at retaining the greatest possible weight. Other terms are used as well: Max Bauer described it as ‘a Brilliant Cut with elongated facets’. Sperison (1961), and Hertz (1839) simply said ‘with a great number of facets’. Dr Kunz (1890) gave no description at all of this type of cut, not even with reference to the golden yellow Tiffany diamond.
As far as I can ascertain, no author seems to have realized that splitting facets lengthwise necessarily involves stepping. A facet edge can obviously not be applied to a flat surface, and the two sections of a bisected facet must always meet at an angle, no matter how blunt that angle may be. Watermeyer interprets this as ‘probably an attempt to flatten the very steep angles of these facets in an attempt to produce more light reflection from inside. This could be proof that certain cutters might have been aware of the prismatic effect of the cut diamond.
The Modern Dutch School
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
4
Three of the most famous and most interesting of the modern Dutch painters were members of one family, all born at The Hague and the sons of a struggling printer. This printer, Maris by name, was of foreign extraction, being the son of a Bohemian soldier of fortune who left his native city of Prague, married a Dutch wife, and settled in the political capital of Holland. The printer also had some experience of fighting, for in 1830 he was called up as a conscript to fight on the side of Netherlands in the war which resulted in the independence of Belgium. After this war the printer returned to a life of unbroken toil, married, and had three sons. Of these the eldest was Jacob (or James) Maris, born in 1837, next came Matthys (or Matthew), born in 1839, while the youngest, Willem, was born in 1844. In speaking of these brothers we shall here use the English equivalents of their names by which they are usually known in Great Britain and the United States.
All three sons showed at an early age remarkable talents for drawing, and notwithstanding his poverty their father appears to have realized the wisdom of allowing each to follow his artistic bent. In their early years James and Matthew were closely associated. In 1855 the talent of the latter came to the notice of Queen Sophie of Holland, who made him an allowance, and the thrifty father considering that this allowance was enough for two, both James and Matthew were able to spend a year studying and painting at the Antwerp Academy. At Antwerp the two brothers lived in the same house as Alma-Tadema, and through him they got to know his relative Mesdag, the banker-painter, Josef Israels, and other Dutch artists. But in these early days neither brother was much affected by the art of immediate contemporaries. They labored strenuously to master the technicalities of their art, and James was guided in his first efforts by a master named Van Hove. This artist, though of mediocre ability, was a very conscientious draughtsman, and under his influence James Maris produced pictures remarkable for the minuteness of the details. One of his early pictures, ‘Interior of a Dutch House,’ painted when the artist was twenty-three, is in the Mesdag Museum, and is quite in the style of Pieter de Hoogh. In the middle distance, on the left, is a sunny nook; in the foreground is the figure of a servant-girl standing in the entrance hall, holding in her right hand a basket and in her left a pewter can. All these details are painted with scrupulous exactness, and the same characteristics may be found in other domestic scenes and interiors which he painted in these early years.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
4
Three of the most famous and most interesting of the modern Dutch painters were members of one family, all born at The Hague and the sons of a struggling printer. This printer, Maris by name, was of foreign extraction, being the son of a Bohemian soldier of fortune who left his native city of Prague, married a Dutch wife, and settled in the political capital of Holland. The printer also had some experience of fighting, for in 1830 he was called up as a conscript to fight on the side of Netherlands in the war which resulted in the independence of Belgium. After this war the printer returned to a life of unbroken toil, married, and had three sons. Of these the eldest was Jacob (or James) Maris, born in 1837, next came Matthys (or Matthew), born in 1839, while the youngest, Willem, was born in 1844. In speaking of these brothers we shall here use the English equivalents of their names by which they are usually known in Great Britain and the United States.
All three sons showed at an early age remarkable talents for drawing, and notwithstanding his poverty their father appears to have realized the wisdom of allowing each to follow his artistic bent. In their early years James and Matthew were closely associated. In 1855 the talent of the latter came to the notice of Queen Sophie of Holland, who made him an allowance, and the thrifty father considering that this allowance was enough for two, both James and Matthew were able to spend a year studying and painting at the Antwerp Academy. At Antwerp the two brothers lived in the same house as Alma-Tadema, and through him they got to know his relative Mesdag, the banker-painter, Josef Israels, and other Dutch artists. But in these early days neither brother was much affected by the art of immediate contemporaries. They labored strenuously to master the technicalities of their art, and James was guided in his first efforts by a master named Van Hove. This artist, though of mediocre ability, was a very conscientious draughtsman, and under his influence James Maris produced pictures remarkable for the minuteness of the details. One of his early pictures, ‘Interior of a Dutch House,’ painted when the artist was twenty-three, is in the Mesdag Museum, and is quite in the style of Pieter de Hoogh. In the middle distance, on the left, is a sunny nook; in the foreground is the figure of a servant-girl standing in the entrance hall, holding in her right hand a basket and in her left a pewter can. All these details are painted with scrupulous exactness, and the same characteristics may be found in other domestic scenes and interiors which he painted in these early years.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
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