Maiolica, the refined, white-glazed pottery of the Italian Renaissance, was adapted to all objects that were traditionally ceramic, such as dishes, bowls, serving vessels, and jugs of all shapes and sizes. It was also used as a medium for sculpture and sculptural reliefs, as well as floor and ceiling tiles.

Robert Lehman assembled the finest and most comprehensive private collection of Italian Renaissance majolica in the United States. In this volume the distinguished scholar Jörg Rasmussen catalogues the 157 majolica objects which since 1975 have been housed, along with more than 2,000 other works of art acquired by Robert Lehman and his father, Philip Lehman, in the Robert Lehman Wing of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The brilliantly colored jars, jugs, and dishes collected by Robert Lehman document the history of Italian majolica from the beginning of the fifteenth century to the 1600s. The collection is most renowned for a magnificent group of pieces produced in the main Italian pottery centers during the High Renaissance, the golden age of majolica. The precious lusterware that was the specialty of Deruta and Gubbio, in central Italy, accounts for more than a third of the collection. Also splendidly represented are the neighboring towns of Castel Durante and Urbino, whose wares perhaps best exemplify the beauty and diversity of majolica of the early sixteenth century. One of the most extraordinary of these pieces from the Duchy of Urbino is the bowl presented to Pope Julius II in 1508, which Rasmussen calls "one of the most beautiful pieces of majolica ever made." Other istoriato, or "story-painted," wares were part of large ensembles commissioned by illustrious patrons: three plates belong to the famous Pucci service painted by Francesco Xanto Avelli da Rovigo; two others, by the master majolica painter Nicolo da Urbino, are from the set owned by Isabella d'Este, marchesa of Mantua; and there are pieces bearing the arms of the Orsini of Rome, the Salviati of Florence, and Constable Anne de Montmorency. The late Jörg Rasmussen was curator at the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg until 1979, when he was named second director of the Zentralinstitut in Munich. His complete catalogue of the Italian majolica in the Hamburg museum appeared in 1984, and he published widely on majolica as well as on sculpture and the applied arts. His text not only analyzes and classifies the majolica in the Robert Lehman Collection, providing provenances, bibliographies, and exhibition histories, but also offers glimpses of the intellectual and cultural world to which it belonged.

The form of tin-glazed earthenware known as maiolica reveals much about the culture and spirit of Renaissance Italy. Engagingly decorative, often spectacularly colorful, sometimes whimsical or frankly bawdy, these magnificent objects, which were generally made for use rather than simple ornamentation, present a fascinating glimpse into the realities of daily life. Though not as well known as Renaissance painting and sculpture, maiolica is also prized by collectors and amateurs of the decorative arts the world over. This volume offers highlights of the world-class collection of maiolica at the Metropolitan Museum. It presents 135 masterpieces that reflect more than four hundred years of exquisite artistry, ranging from early pieces from Pesaro—including an eight-figure group of the Lamentation, the largest, most ambitious piece of sculpture produced in a Renaissance maiolica workshop—to everyday objects such as albarelli (pharmacy jars), bella donna plates, and humorous genre scenes. Each piece has been newly photographed for this volume, and each is presented with a full discussion, provenance, exhibition history, publication history, notes on form and glaze, and condition report. Two essays by Timothy Wilson, widely considered the foremost scholar in the field, provide overviews of the history and technique of maiolica as well as an account of the formation of The Met's collection. Also featured is a wide-ranging introduction by Luke Syson that examines how the function of an object governed the visual and compositional choices made by the pottery painter. As the latest volume in The Met's series of decorative arts highlights, Maiolica is an invaluable resource for scholars and collectors as well as an absorbing general introduction to a multifaceted subject.

Puebla was the most prominent of the Mexican centers of pottery production to employ the technique of tin-enameled earthenware, known in Europe as maiolica.

The manufacture of secular art objects, usually for the purpose of commemoration, personalized these lavish Italian Renaissance interiors.

Faience, or tin-glazed and enameled earthenware, first emerged in France during the sixteenth century, reaching widespread usage among elite patrons during the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, prior to the establishment of soft-paste porcelain factories.

This week we turned the pages in the Washington Haggadah, which is on loan to the Museum from the Library of Congress through July 4.