Celebrations… Antiques
that Mark the Moment
In recognition
of its 50th year, the theme of the 2011 Philadelphia
Antiques Show loan exhibit is titled, "Celebrations… Antiques
that Mark the Moment." There are moments of
celebration that we recognize immediately: birthdays,
weddings, graduations, anniversaries. But many others
fill our lives: balls and parties, inaugurations
and parades, feasts and holidays.
Items from many
of those memorable times often survive. Some of them
have hung on the walls of family homes. Others are
in the care of museums and historical societies.
And there are those that have lain hidden in chests
and tucked into the pages of books.
The curator of the 2011 loan exhibit,
Constance Hershey, is gathering some of those surviving
objects from public and private collections. These
keepsakes and tributes remind us of our most important
occasions, and we are proud to showcase them as we
present the fiftieth annual Philadelphia Antiques
Show.
For more information, read the loan exhibit articles
from past Shows:
A Call to Arms: Chinese Export Porcelain (2010) |
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The featured
loan exhibit at the 2010 Philadelphia Antiques
Show, A Call to Arms: Chinese Armorial Porcelain
for the British and American Markets, 1700-1850,
is a tribute to antiques dealer Elinor Gordon
(1918-2009), a highly respected and honored
authority on Chinese export porcelain who participated
in every Philadelphia Antiques Show since its
inception in 1962. Learn
more... |
Philadelphia Portrait Miniatures, 1760-1860 (2009) |
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The painter
of miniatures has... even more than the
painter in large... the satisfaction of
knowing
that he exerts his skill in behalf of the best
feelings of our nature... [His] delicate
and exquisitely
touched work is dependent on... seemingly
fragile materials... and [yet] will for years
to come, raise
sensations in the bosoms of those who gaze on
them, which may rival any excited by the works
of
their brethren, that are displayed in gallery
and hall. Learn
more... |
Fore & Aft – Philadelphia Collects Maritime (2008) |
|
Philadelphia
owes its existence to the Schuylkill and Delaware
Rivers. Cradled between one river that led
to the abundant western frontier of Pennsylvania
and another that led to the oceans of the world,
Philadelphia was born and flourished. It developed
into the principal colonial port city and functioned
as a nexus of exchange... Read
article • View
PDF |
Phila.
Empire Furniture: Bold, Brash, & Beautiful
(2007) |
|
From
the 18th century urban centers of Northern
Europe, a new-founded interest in the architecture
of the cultures of ancient Egypt, Greece, and
Rome began as early as 1750. By the late 18th
and early 19th Century in both Europe and America,
classically inspired architecture was complemented... Read
article • View
PDF |
The Schuylkill Villas (2006) |
|
A villa,
by definition, is “a country estate;
the rural or suburban residence of a wealthy
person.” In Philadelphia, by the early
18th century, a prosperous merchant class had
begun to emerge, gentlemen whose wealth afforded
them a lifestyle that emulated their British
forebears... Read
article • View
PDF |
Vaulting Ambition: Gothic
Revival in Phila, 1830-1860
(2005) |
|
The Gothic
style dominated the architecture of Europe
between 1100 and about 1500 A.D. It was, basically,
an architectural style, wherein the slender
masonry of the walls and the vaults was embellished
with lancet windows, moldings, paneling, tracery,
ribs, leafage, crockets, and pinnacles... Read
article • View
PDF |
Folk Art on Fire (2004) |
|
Philadelphians
living in the second half of the eighteenth
century were accustomed to a life fraught with
physical dangers. Infant mortality approached
30%. Skeletal injuries carried a high rate
of amputation and, before anesthesia or antibiotics,
a 25% risk of death. Yellow fever regularly
killed hundreds of urban dwellers and drove
survivors... Read
article • View
PDF |
Patterns of Pride: Historical
Blue Staffordshire (2003) |
|
One of the
most interesting categories of American antiques
is historical Staffordshire china, produced
exclusively by English potters from 1820 to
1850 in the district of Staffordshire, northwest
of London, for the American trade... Read
article • View
PDF |
This Glorious House
- Stenton (2002) |
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Stenton,
the country house of James Logan (1674-1751),
is one of the finest historic house museums in
the Philadelphia region. Administered by the
Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania since 1899, it is celebrated
for its distinguished architecture and collections. Learn
more... |
Needlework Treasures (2001) |
|
The
Philadelphia Museum of Art, from its beginnings
during the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, has
become a preeminent international arts institution,
with impressive collections in a multiplicity
of media. In honor of the Museum's 125th anniversary,
the 2001 loan exhibition features rare and unusual
American and European needlework. Learn
more... |
It's About Time
(2000) |
|
A
Millennium is in essence a celebration of the
passage of time, which has been calculated and
recorded in a thousand ways in as many years.
Within that period, we have come from natural
means (sun, wind, sand, and water), to marvelous
man-made mechanical devices, and back to elemental
forces. Learn more... |
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