The Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna holds a unique collection of Italian maiolica from the fifteenth to the eighteenthcentury, which is now being published almost in its entirety for the very first time. Maiolica tableware, Italy s luxury export,spread to the courts of northern Europe from the early sixteenth century. Today, the MAK s holdings from former imperial, ecclesiastical, aristocratic, and private ownership enter into a dialogue with maiolica from well-known Austrian and Central European collections. Timothy Wilson, professor emeritus at Balliol College Oxford and former Keeper of Western Art at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and Rainald Franz, curator at MAK, together with other experts provide an extensive insight into the development of maiolica in its cultural and historical context. Thus a scholarly exploration of one of the best collections of maiolica in the world has thus now been scientifically examined for the very first time.
