The Great Monkey Rescue: Saving the Golden Lion Tamarins

Studio jewelry dissolves the modern distinction between decorative and fine arts. The 60 pieces in this lively volume, collected by Donna Schneier and donated to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, were crested primarily from the early 1960s to the present day and  show a fluid engagement with various traditions in jewelry-making—from old masterworks to contemporary pieces—as well as various 20th-century art movements such as conceptual art, arte povera, and surrealism. Above all, these are works meant to be worn, to create a dynamic engagement with a body.
 
Unique by Design draws attention to these dazzling small works of art, most of which have never before been published. Although these pieces incorporate a variety of materials, ranging from the precious to the ordinary, they share some common traits that reflect the collector’s tastes: wit, elegance, fantasy, imagination, social observation, and technical virtuosity. Above all, these works were made to be worn, to create a dynamic engagement with a body; many are sculptural, and several refer to old master and contemporary artists as well as to conceptual art and other major movements of the last century.