"This first comprehensive handbook of the Museum presents over four hundred masterpieces from its encyclopedic collections of Asian art; costume and textiles; European decorative arts (including arms and armor); European painting and sculpture; prints, drawings, and photographs; American art; twentieth-century art, and the art of Africa and Mexico. Each work is illustrated in full color and is accompanied by a short didactic text contributed by Museum curators. Introductory essays describes the formation of the various departments of the Museum."--Amazon.