Among the exquisite pieces of glass in Robert Lehman's collection are many that exhibit the consummate skill of Venetian glassmakers and explain why Venetian glass was so coveted in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The factories in northern Europe that produced glass a la façon de Venise are represented as well. Robert Lehman also acquired perhaps the richest American collection of eighteenth-century lampworked glass figurines, which are usually attributed to Nevers, France. Smaller groups of reverse-painted panels and ancient Roman and early Islamic glass round out the 136 objects catalogued in this volume.
This is the sixth to be published in a projected series of fifteen volumes that will catalogue the Robert Lehman Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.