Research Catalog

Making marvels : science and splendor at the courts of Europe

Title

Making marvels : science and splendor at the courts of Europe / edited by Wolfram Koeppe.

Publication

New York, NY : The Metropolitan Museum of Art, [2019]
New Haven : Distributed by Yale University Press, [2019]
©2019

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Request Scan Not available - Please for assistance.	Text	Use in library	NK925 .K64 2019q Oversize	Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Description

307 pages : illustrations (chiefly color); 31 x 25 cm

Summary

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.

Alternative Title

Science and splendor at the courts of Europe

Subject

Genre/Form

Essay
Exhibition
exhibition catalogs.
essays.
illustrated books.
Illustrated works
Essays
Exhibition catalogs
History
Exhibition catalogs.
Essays.
Illustrated works.
Catalogues d'exposition.
Essais.
Ouvrages illustrés.

Note

Published in conjunction with an exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from November 25, 2019-March 1, 2020.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-298) and index.

Contents

Setting the standard : forging a culture of magnificence. Marvels, wonders, and their offspring / Wolfram Koeppe -- The Kunstkammer : a haven of splendor & study. Amassing magnificence : the role of the Kunstkammer in princely self-representation / Dirk Syndram -- Courtly marvels and the new experimental philosophy / Pamela H. Smith -- Chasing marvels, revealing secrets : the Kunstkammer in the age of discovery / Paulus Rainer -- A surviving curiosity : the Esterházy Kunstkammer / Florian Thaddäus Bayer -- Princely education & entertainment. Scientific instruments as courtly objects / Peter Plassmeyer -- The ivory turn : of solids, curves, and nests / Noam Andrews -- The noble art : alchemy and innovation at court / Ana Matisse Donefer-Hickie -- Technological marvels in motion. Clocks and automata : the art of technological development / Wolfram Koeppe.

ISBN

1588396770
9781588396778

LCCN

2020304787

OCLC

on1090437661
1090437661
SCSB-9594793

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library