Antiques: The History of an Idea

About the Book

The notion of retrieving a bit of the past-by owning a material piece of it-has always appealed to humans. Often our most prized possessions are those that have had a long history before they came into our hands. Part of the pleasure we gain from the encounter with antiques stems from the palpable age and the assumed (sometimes imaginary) cultural resonances of the particular object. But precisely what is it about these objects that creates this attraction? What common characteristics do they share and why and how do these traits affect us as they do? In Antiques: The History of an Idea, Leon Rosenstein, a distinguished philosopher who has also been an antiques dealer for more than twenty years, offers a sweeping and lively account of the origin and development of the antique as both a cultural concept and an aesthetic category. He shows that the appeal of antiques is multifaceted: it concerns their value as commodities, their age and historical and cultural associations, their uniqueness, their sensuous and tactile values, their beauty. Exploring how the idea of antiques evolved over time, Rosenstein chronicles the history of antique collecting and connoisseurship. He describes changing conceptions of the past in different epochs as evidenced by preservations, restorations, and renascences; examines shifting attitudes toward foreign cultures as revealed in stylistic borrowings and the importation of artifacts; and investigates varying understandings of and meanings assigned to their traits and functions as historical objects. While relying on the past for his evidence, Rosenstein approaches antiques from an entirely original perspective, setting history within a philosophical framework. He begins by providing a working definition of antiques that distinguishes them from other artifacts in general and, more distinctly, both from works of fine art and from the collectible detritus of popular culture. He then establishes a novel set of criteria for determining when an artifact is an antique: ten traits that an object must possess in order to elicit the aesthetic response that is unique to antiques. Concluding with a provocative discussion of the relation between antiques and civilization, this engaging and thought-provoking book helps explain the enduring appeal of owning a piece of the past.

About the Author :

Leon Rosenstein is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at San Diego State University and past president of the Classical Alliance of the Western States. He has been an antiques dealer since 1985.

Review :
"Rosenstein's Antiques: The History of an Idea is a marvelous surprise, a connoisseur's introduction to a conceptual category, the antique, demonstrably inseparable from the life of the arts, critically important for the philosophy of art, as well as for intelligently informed appreciation, puzzlingly neglected, as subtle and as complex a notion as might be pertinently added at this late date: all brought together in a delightfully informal and meticulous conversation that appears almost incapable of exhausting its fresh examples and distinctions."- Joseph Margolis, Journal of the History of Philosophy, April 2011 "Rosenstein has had two careers: philosopher and antiques dealer. The philosopher in Rosenstein makes him reflective about the theory and practice of collecting antiques. He provides an analysis of the concept of an antique, a history of the appreciation of antiques, proposed desiderata of antiques, and ruminations on the cultural significance of antique collecting... The history of connoisseurship is full of fascinating details about collecting from the time of the ancients to the present."-Choice, September 2009 "What is an antique? How are antiques related to other objects with which they might be associated, such as antiquities, collectibles, souvenirs, relics, memorabilia, works of art, and fakes (antique-last-week)? What accounts for the enduring value and appeal of antiques? Leon Rosenstein addresses these questions with the analytical acuity of a philosopher, the historical erudition of a scholar, and the practical knowledge that comes of a lifetime immersed in the world of antiques. Antiques: The History of an Idea is a fascinating and welcome treatment of a neglected topic."-Philip Alperson, Temple University "Leon Rosenstein's philosophical study of connoisseurship and collecting offers both an authoritative history of the developing idea of an antique from ancient Rome to modern America and an impressively refined analysis of what makes something an antique and the values it thereby accrues. Antiques: The History of an Idea is a book to be savored by philosophical aesthetician and antique collector alike."-Peter Lamarque, University of York "Antiques: The History of an Idea examines periods of historical passion for the antique and the different sensibilities they manifest. Leon Rosenstein assembles convincing support for his intriguing thesis about the concept of the antique and the relation of the antique to art; he argues that as ordinary objects age they become more like art inasmuch as they open 'worlds' to the past."-Carolyn Korsmeyer, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York "Antiques: The History of an Idea is a lively, informative book: one of those rare discussions of a cultural phenomenon written by someone who knows it from the inside, as a passionate collector, teacher, and philosopher of the antique. This book establishes the antique as worthy of consideration by philosophers of art, culture, and history and also as a potentially rich source for historians of Western philosophy."-Jack Zupko, Emory University