Makers, Periods & Styles Library

Is the name for edible sea snails that come in various sizes from small to very large. They are famous for inner layer of their shells which feature mother-of-pearl luminescent swirls of colour, ranging from peacock green and deep cobalt blue through pinks, creams and purples. These have been used throughout...

AD Mougin was a well-known French clock maker working in the mid nineteenth century. He is known to have made clocks in the French clock making region of Montbeliard (which is close to the Swiss border) and is also listed as having premises on the Rue de Turenne in Paris. He won two gold medals […]

Agate is a crystalline variety of silica that is usually found in volcanic or metamorphic rocks. It’s formed when water containing silica is trapped in the cavities of molten rock and sets in layers. This gives agate a ‘banded’ appearance when it is cut through. It has a waxy lustre and can come in a […]

Agathon Léonard also known as Léonard Agathon van Weydevelt was born in Lille in Belgium in 1841 and died in Paris in 1923. He was a French Art Nouveau sculptor. After moving to Paris as a young man, he studied sculpture with Eugene Delaplanche at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In 1887 he became a member […]

Aitken Dott & Son was founded by Aitken Dott (1815-92) as carvers, gilders and framemakers in 1842. Aitken’s son Peter McOmish Dott (1856-1934) went on to develop the Edinburgh firm into a fine art dealers called ‘The Scottish Gallery’ which opened in 1897. It was continued by George Proudfoot (1873-1943) and...

Alabaster – is the name applied to two distinct varieties of minerals – gypsum and calcite (also known as onyx-marble or Oriental or Egyptian alabaster). The type used in Egypt and the Near and Middle East is usually the calcite variety, whilst that used in medieval Europe was usually gypsum. Widely used for...

Alfred Boucher (1850 – 1934), was a French sculptor, who became the favourite of presidents and royals such as George I of Greece. He was born in Bouy-sur-Ovin (Nogent-sur-Seine), the son of a farmhand. When his father became the gardener for the sculptor Joseph-Marius Ramus, Alfred’s talent became apparent,...

Alphonse Leon Noel (1804 – 1884) was a Parisian born French painter, draftsman and lithographer. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and entered the workshops of Antoine-Jean Gros and Louis Hersent. He was very prolific and painted more than six hundred portraits throughout his lifetime. in 1855 he...

Alphonse Tahan (1830-1880) was the official master cabinet maker for the French Emperor Napoleon III and his wife the Empress Eugenie. As the leading trend-setter of the day, the Empress was regarded as having impeccable taste and favoured Tahan’s workshop so greatly increasing his reputation. The firm was based...