The Winterthur Guide to Recognizing Styles: American Decorative Arts from the 17th Through 19th Centuries

by Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

The third offering in the Winterthur Decorative Arts Series (which also includes Evaluating Your Collection and The Winterthur Guide to Caring for Your Collection), The Winterthur Guide to Recognizing Styles serves as an invaluable guide to identifying styles in the decorative arts.

What distinguishes Queen Anne furniture from William and Mary? Not sure if your candlestick is Federal or Empire? What does Chippendale-style creamware look like? Illustrated in full color with objects from Winterthur's outstanding collection, this book answers these questions and more. Covering the years 1640 to 1860, it provides a road map for recognizing the defining characteristics of each period and understanding how styles have developed and changed over the years.

119 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2001

Reviews

[Drana]

This book is formulaic. The chapters are short but concise. The same types of examples are discussed for each stylistic period, giving the book a very academic and straight-forwardness that makes it a perfect supplement for my antiques course at Sotheby's Institute of Art.

[Shannon]

Reads quickly and is a great introduction for someone newly interested in antiques and furnishings.