In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, budding discourse on what it meant to be “modern” prompted artists to develop work that felt both relevant and responsive to contemporary life. This richly illustrated edition of the Bulletin explores the visual, conceptual, and technical experimentations of European ceramicists as they attempted to define a global language of modernism in stark contrast to earlier appeals to historical styles. Authors Sarah E. Lawrence and Jeffrey Munger illuminate the broad range of technical and creative influences—including Asian ceramic traditions, European design movements, and nature—that inform the more than fifty works included in this volume, part of a remarkable gift by collector Martin Eidelberg. Professor Eidelberg contributes an essay on the proliferation of natural imagery in the aesthetics of the period. A fascinating and focused exploration of design history, Making it Modern offers a closer look at dozens of astonishingly creative ceramics and reflects on how the aspiration to create works that link the past to a vibrant future has continued resonance today. 

As European and American interest in Asian art grew in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, Western consumers coveted expensive lacquerware for its gloss, durability, and rich ornament. This edition of the Bulletin examines the evolving discourse surrounding japanned furniture, an artform cultivated by European and North American tradesmen that was inspired by luxury lacquer items from China and Japan. Using resin from native conifers or imported sandarac, copal, and shellac, they imitated the medium and the motifs used in traditional lacquer objects. Featuring more than a dozen examples of japanned chests, tables, and mirrors, American Japanned Furniture discusses the works’ patronage and aesthetic origins while also uncovering a new artistic attribution to Thomas Johnston for key examples in The Met’s Collection– a discovery which not only sheds new light on Johnston’s work, but also helps shape a new understanding of the Museum’s japanned furniture.

The Metropolitan Museum Journal is issued annually and publishes original research on works of art in the Museum's collection. Highlights of volume 59 include new discoveries with regard to unexpectedly playful facade sculptures on a 16th-century English merchant's house; a study of small devotional paintings on copper made in Mexico by Nicolás Enríquez for the private use of a Spanish merchant; and the rich story of an Ottoman prayer rug, the restoration of which was overseen by previously overlooked 20th-century tastemaker Robert-Sadia Pardo.

The Metropolitan Museum Journal is issued annually and publishes original research on works of art in the Museum's collection. Highlights of volume 59 include new discoveries with regard to unexpectedly playful facade sculptures on a 16th-century English merchant's house; a study of small devotional paintings on copper made in Mexico by Nicolás Enríquez for the private use of a Spanish merchant; and the rich story of an Ottoman prayer rug, the restoration of which was overseen by previously overlooked 20th-century tastemaker Robert-Sadia Pardo.

The Metropolitan Museum Journal is issued annually and publishes original research on works of art in the Museum's collection. Highlights of volume 59 include new discoveries with regard to unexpectedly playful facade sculptures on a 16th-century English merchant's house; a study of small devotional paintings on copper made in Mexico by Nicolás Enríquez for the private use of a Spanish merchant; and the rich story of an Ottoman prayer rug, the restoration of which was overseen by previously overlooked 20th-century tastemaker Robert-Sadia Pardo.

The Metropolitan Museum Journal is issued annually and publishes original research on works of art in the Museum's collection. Highlights of volume 59 include new discoveries with regard to unexpectedly playful facade sculptures on a 16th-century English merchant's house; a study of small devotional paintings on copper made in Mexico by Nicolás Enríquez for the private use of a Spanish merchant; and the rich story of an Ottoman prayer rug, the restoration of which was overseen by previously overlooked 20th-century tastemaker Robert-Sadia Pardo.

The Metropolitan Museum Journal is issued annually and publishes original research on works of art in the Museum's collection. Highlights of volume 59 include new discoveries with regard to unexpectedly playful facade sculptures on a 16th-century English merchant's house; a study of small devotional paintings on copper made in Mexico by Nicolás Enríquez for the private use of a Spanish merchant; and the rich story of an Ottoman prayer rug, the restoration of which was overseen by previously overlooked 20th-century tastemaker Robert-Sadia Pardo.

The Metropolitan Museum Journal is issued annually and publishes original research on works of art in the Museum's collection. Highlights of volume 59 include new discoveries with regard to unexpectedly playful facade sculptures on a 16th-century English merchant's house; a study of small devotional paintings on copper made in Mexico by Nicolás Enríquez for the private use of a Spanish merchant; and the rich story of an Ottoman prayer rug, the restoration of which was overseen by previously overlooked 20th-century tastemaker Robert-Sadia Pardo.

The Metropolitan Museum Journal is issued annually and publishes original research on works of art in the Museum's collection. Highlights of volume 59 include new discoveries with regard to unexpectedly playful facade sculptures on a 16th-century English merchant's house; a study of small devotional paintings on copper made in Mexico by Nicolás Enríquez for the private use of a Spanish merchant; and the rich story of an Ottoman prayer rug, the restoration of which was overseen by previously overlooked 20th-century tastemaker Robert-Sadia Pardo.

The Metropolitan Museum Journal is issued annually and publishes original research on works of art in the Museum's collection. Highlights of volume 59 include new discoveries with regard to unexpectedly playful facade sculptures on a 16th-century English merchant's house; a study of small devotional paintings on copper made in Mexico by Nicolás Enríquez for the private use of a Spanish merchant; and the rich story of an Ottoman prayer rug, the restoration of which was overseen by previously overlooked 20th-century tastemaker Robert-Sadia Pardo.