"This volume is the first to survey the Metropolitan Museum's world-renowned collection of European furniture. One hundred and three examples from the Museum's vast holdings are featured. They originate in workshops in England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Russia, or Spain and date from the Renaissance to the late nineteenth century. A number of them belonged to such important historical figures as Pope Urban VIII, Louise XIV, Madame de Pompadour, and Napoleon. The selection includes chairs, tables, beds, cabinets, commodes, settees and sofas, bookcases and standing shelves, desks, fire screens, atheniennes, coffers, chests, mirrors and frames, showcases and lighting equipment. The makers of some of the objects are unknown, but most of the pieces can be identified by lable, documentation, or style as the work of an European designer-craftsman, such as Andre-Charles Boulle, Thomas Chippendale, David Roentgen, or Karl Friedrich Schinkel." "Museum curators Danielle O. Kisluk-Grosheide, Wolfram Koeppe, and William Rieder discuss the history and significance of these objects, incorporating information gleaned from new research and conservation studies. The most important techniques of furniture making and decoration are also described - veneering, marquetry, joining, gliding, and inlay among others - and a glossary offers additional information on these and many additional aspects of the craft. In the introduction, Danielle O. Kisluk-Grosheide discusses the history of the Museum's collection. Her essay is accompanied by historical photographs from the Museum's files and views of several of the Museum's period rooms."--BOOK JACKET.

This volume is the first to survey the Metropolitan Museum's world-renowned collection of European furniture. One hundred and three superb examples from the Museum's vast holdings are featured. They originated in workshops in England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Russia, and Spain, and date from the Renaissance to the late nineteenth century. A number of these pieces belonged to such important historical figures as Pope Urban VIII, Louis XIV, Madame de Pompadour, and Napoleon. The selection includes chairs, tables, beds, cabinets, commodes, settees and sofas, bookcases and standing shelves, desks, fire screens, ath©♭niennes, coffers, chests, mirrors and frames, showcases, and lighting equipment. There is also one purely decorative piece, a superb vase made for a Russian noble family who, according to one awestruck viewer, "owned all the malachite mines in the world." The makers of some of the objects are unknown, but most of the pieces can be identified by label, documentation, or style as the work of an oustanding European designer-craftsman, such as Andr©♭-Charles Boulle, Thomas Chippendale, David Roentgen, or Karl Friedrich Schinkel. This volume also includes a bibliography, glossary, and index. -- Metropolitan Museum of Art website.