The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide

Hollein, Max
2019
456 pages
600 illustrations
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Featuring beautiful color reproductions and enlightening descriptions, this is the definitive guide to one of the largest, and most beloved, collections of art in the world.

More than a simple souvenir book, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide provides a comprehensive view of art history spanning five millennia and the entire globe, beginning with the ancient world and ending in contemporary times. It includes media as varied as painting, photography, costume, sculpture, decorative arts, musical instruments, arms and armor, works on paper, and many more. Presenting works ranging from the ancient Egyptian Temple of Dendur to Canova's Perseus with the Head of Medusa to Sargent's Madame X, this revised edition is an indispensable volume for lovers of art and art history, and for anyone who has ever dreamed of lingering over the most iconic works in the Metropolitan's unparalleled collection.

Storage jar decorated with mountain goats, Ceramic, paint
ca. 4000–3600 BCE
Kneeling bull holding a spouted vessel, Silver, Proto-Elamite
Proto-Elamite
ca. 3100–2900 BCE
Striding figure with ibex horns, a raptor skin draped around the shoulders, and upturned boots, Copper alloy, shell, Proto-Elamite
Proto-Elamite
ca. 3000 BCE
Standing male worshiper, Gypsum alabaster, shell, black limestone, bitumen, Sumerian
Sumerian
ca. 2900–2600 BCE
Head of a ruler, Copper alloy
ca. 2300–2000 BCE
Cylinder seal and modern impression: hunting scene, Chert, Akkadian
Akkadian
ca. 2250–2150 BCE
Statue of Gudea, named “Gudea, the man who built the temple, may his life be long”, Diorite, Neo-Sumerian
Neo-Sumerian
ca. 2090 BCE
Pendants and beads, Gold, Babylonian
Babylonian
ca. 18th–17th century BCE
Shaft-hole axe head with bird-headed demon, boar, and dragon, Silver, gold foil, Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex
Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex
ca. late 3rd–early 2nd millennium BCE
Furniture support: female sphinx with Hathor-style curls, Ivory (Hippopotamus), gold foil, Old Assyrian Trading Colony
Old Assyrian Trading Colony
ca. 18th century BCE
Vessel terminating in the forepart of a stag, Silver, gold inlay, Hittite
Hittite
ca. 14th–13th century BCE
Relief panel, Gypsum alabaster, Assyrian
Assyrian
ca. 883–859 BCE
Figure of a man with an oryx, a monkey, and a leopard skin, Ivory, Assyrian
Assyrian
ca. 8th century BCE
Openwork furniture plaque with two sphinxes, Ivory, gold foil, Assyrian
Assyrian
ca. 9th–8th century BC
Vessel terminating in the forepart of a fantastic leonine creature, Gold, Achaemenid
Achaemenid
ca. 5th century BCE
Beaker with birds and animals, Silver
ca. 4th century BCE
Rhyton terminating in the forepart of a wild cat, Silver, mercury gilding, Parthian
Parthian
ca. 1st century BCE
Funerary relief, Limestone
ca. 2nd–3rd century CE
Incense burner, Bronze
ca. mid-1st millennium BCE
Plate with a hunting scene from the tale of Bahram Gur and Azadeh, Silver, mercury gilding, Sasanian
Sasanian
ca. 5th century CE
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———, ed. 2012c. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York : New Haven : Distributed by Yale University Press: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.