Eric Knowles – författare

The story of English furniture really begins in the sixteenth century, when crude medieval tables and stools gave way to more sophisticated, jointed designs. This Tudor furniture is the earliest to survive in any quantity, and it is where John Bly begins his history of English furniture. Changing fashions, influences, materials, and manufacturing techniques have all had an impact on English furniture, causing it to change over the decades, sometimes quite suddenly. Each of these changes is fully explained, as oak gives way to walnut, and then mahogany; as furniture becomes finer and more formal and the great names - Chippendale, Sheraton and Hepplewhite - emerge. This seminal work concludes with a masterclass in detecting the alterations and fakery that can significantly affect the value of a piece of furniture.

Rene Lalique was one of the giants of twentieth century decorative arts and a master of the Art Deco idiom.Born in 1860, early artistic talent led to an apprenticeship with Paris goldsmith Louis Aucoc. By 1885 Rene had established his own workshop, and for the next twenty years he designed and made jewellery of great originality and beauty. Though this became famous worldwide, before the turn of the century he began experimenting with glass, and it is for this that Lalique is today most famous: for the fine art perfume bottles he produced for Francois Coty and for a vast repertoire besides, including vases, lighting, clocks, car mascots and architectural commissions.This lavishly illustrated history celebrates the extraordinary jewellery and glass of Rene Lalique, and the glass of the Lalique company up to the present day.

Although usually associated with the 1920s and ’30s, the Art Deco style had already begun to emerge in France prior to the First World War.However, it was during the interwar years that the style, reaching full maturity, would be embraced across the world as the ultimate expression of modernity, elegance and refined taste.Art Deco design is redolent of the Jazz Age, conjuring images of society cocktail parties, the Charleston and Hollywood in this great but doomed era of excess. But this was also an age that saw momentous technological advances in engineering and transportation, and Art Deco is a feature, too, of the streamlined profiles of high-speed trains, ocean liners, and aircraft.Here, TV antiques expert Eric Knowles provides a lavishly illustrated personal narrative and guide to this most alluring and enduring of styles.

Although usually associated with the 1920s and the ''30s, in fact the Art Deco style had begun to emerge in France prior to the advent of the First World War. But it was during the interwar years that the style, reaching full maturity, was adopted by the international elite as the perfect expression of modern opulence and elegance, and to this day Art Deco designs are redolent of the age of Jazz, cocktails, the Charleston, speakeasies, Hollywood glamour, New York skyscrapers and, above all, style. The ''20s was also a period of great technological advances in engineering and transportation, and the perpetual modernity and futuristic aura of Art Deco are evocative of this too. Here, BBC Antiques Roadshow expert Eric Knowles provides a lavishly illustrated guide to this most alluring and timeless of styles.