When Kunstwerke und Ger瓣thschaften des Mittelalters und der Renaissance (1852–1863) was published, what purchasers in fact bought was a small printed museum of unusual
treasures. With 216 hand-colored copperplate engravings, the three-volume publication gives a comprehensive overview of applied arts in Europe from the 6th to the 16th
centuries. The objects presented comprise furniture, metalwork, jewelry, tapestries, and works of bookbinding. Carefully selected masterpieces like the gilt Corvinus goblet, an
enamelled saltcellar, and medieval ivory combs are depicted, along with a decorative sword, now lost.
Carl Becker (1794-1859) was head of the Royal Cabinet of Prints and Drawings in Munich and later director of the Bavarian National Museum. His work helped influence the creation of new
museums of art and design – the South Kensington Museum in London (today the Victoria and Albert Museum), founded in 1852, being the very first – in which artists could study the
hand-crafted masterpieces of earlier epochs.
