This volume catalogs more than four hundred decorative objects in the Robert Lehman Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, including painted enamels, snuffboxes, porcelain, pottery, ceramics, jewelry, furniture, cast metal, and textiles from throughout Europe and Asia, with the majority dating from the late seventh century to the twentieth century. Highlights include a a superb seventeenth-century oval-shaped watch decorated with enamels by the master Susanne de Court of Limoges; a dazzling domed cup supported by a carved alabaster figure of a bearded Turk, replete with jewels and precious stones, crafted in early eighteenth-century Germany; and a French secretaire from the 1780s set with painted enamels from the famed Sevres Manufactory. Provenance information, exhibition histories, and references are provided, and selected comparative illustrations are incorporated. The volume also includes a bibliography and an index."

Innovation, technology, and spectacle combine in wondrous works of decorative art and furniture that embody the splendor and luxury of the royal courts of Europe At once beautiful works of art and technological wonders, the objects featured in Making Marvels demonstrate how European royalty from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment signaled their status through their collections of ingeniously crafted inventions. Featuring 150 exemplary objects ranging from mechanical toys to scientific instruments, timepieces to automata, this groundbreaking study brings to life a glorious period when luxury, a quest for knowledge, scientific invention, and political power combined to produce remarkable works of art. More than frivolous playthings, these works inspired technical innovations that influenced a broad spectrum of activities, including astronomy, engineering, and artisanal craftsmanship. This remarkable volume explores works in a wide range of materials, including precious metals, gemstones, pietra dura, marble, ivory, wood, bone, shell, glass, and paper. The book's compelling essays address the layered historical context in which these objects were fashioned and gathered into cabinets of wonder at courts throughout Europe; elucidate their complex blending of art and science; and provide fascinating details about the patrons who commissioned them and the specialists who made them. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (November 25, 2019-March 1, 2020)