A tribute to the history, life and work of Idar carver Gerd Dreher and his talented family.

The Dreher family of carvers goes back at least 15 generations. Through the many conflicts that had beleaguered Europe since the Dark Ages, Idar and the Dreher family persevered to build a unique and proud legacy that is carried on to this day. Gerd's grandfathers rose and fell with the incomparable House of Faberge. A keen observer and exceptional talent, Paul Dreher, Gerd's father, walked through fire securing the family's business and artistic independence and smoothing the way for his son.

Inheriting his father's work ethic and artistic sensibilities, Gerd Dreher became a peerless carver of whimsical hardstone animals, with a style all his own. His work belies remarkable insight into the anatomies of the domain triad: animal, vegetable, and mineral. With an uncanny sense for the continuation of form — organic and inorganic Gerd magically brought life to stone and stone to life.

Drawing from numerous references and many hours of interviews, this volume chronicles Gerd's journey from apprentice to master, placing his work and that of his family in cultural context. This outsized volume, extravagantly illustrated with Scovil photos, is a celebration of the life and work of Gerd Dreher and his family's hardstone carving dynasty that I know you're going to treasure.