The third volume in The Walters Art Museum Collection FocusSeries is a jewel-box of a book explores the world of miniature masterpieces,luxury objects worn and used in Europe and Americas between around 1700 and1900. Despite their small size, they are enduring testaments to the largest ofhuman preoccupations: love, death, and pleasure.Highlights include a snuffbox decorated with portraits ofLouis XV's grandchildren; a watch studded with pearls and diamonds made forNapoleon I's mother that allowed her to tell the time by touch alone; amourning ring containing the hair of two young sisters buried thousands ofmiles apart; two exquisite Faberge eggs made as royal Easter gifts: theGatchina Palace Egg and Rose Trellis Egg; and a tiny charm depicting a singleeye gifted by a secret lover.Often books on these kinds of objects look at one categoryof thing - mourning jewellery, portrait or eye miniatures etc - this book takesa broader approach and is written for a general audience. It will appealspecifically to those with an interest in social history, biography, antiques.
