Wood or stone, wax or silk – materials shaped the meaning of early modern art. Transformed and crafted from the matter of nature, art objects were the physical embodiment of both the inherent qualities of materials and the forces of culture that used and produced them. The making and marketing of art depended upon the manipulation of both exotic and everyday materials; and interest in materials and objects reached a peak in the years between 1250 and 1750, spurred on by expanding networks of global trade, nation-building, and scientific exploration. 

Drawing on new research and models from anthropology, material culture, and the history of art and science, the essays in The Matter of Art explore topics as diverse as Inka stonework, gold in panel painting, Chinese inkstones, and European wax sculpture. Going beyond technical analyses, each chapter interprets materials in the light of artistic practices and the cultural contexts that shaped objects.

The study of materials cuts across the usual geographical and disciplinary boundaries in this important period in the history of art, science, and culture, linking the close study of painting, sculpture and architecture with a much wider category of everyday and exotic objects. At stake is not only a new understanding of early modernity, but also the implications of our contemporary 'material turn.'

Students of art and architecture will find essays by leading scholars in European, Asian and Pre-Columbian art. The book will appeal to general readers with an interest in craft and the history of objects as well as to historians interested in a global history of the early modern period and its patterns of trade.