Dumbarton Oaks houses the extraordinary art collection begun by Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss. In this book the museum publishes the specialist collections in Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art, along with examples from the Blisses superb European collection, for the first time.

When Robert Bliss recalled handling a jade Olmec figurine in 1913, he said, That day, the collector s microbe took root in it must be confessed very fertile soil. The Blisses passion for art bore fruit in a remarkably diverse collection: Flemish tapestries, Renaissance furniture, and paintings by the likes of El...