This book is illustrated with stunning photographs of objects commissioned by and associated with Court Jews from collections all over Europe, America and Israel. It is published in conjunction with an exhibition that opened at the Jewish Museum in New York on September 8, 1996. The book charts the development of the Court Jew phenomenon from early Islamic times through to the early 1800s, with particular emphasis on the 17th and 18th centuries. It includes short biographies of outstanding figures - among them several women, such as Glikl of Hameln and Esther Lieberman - with an account of their achievements and of their relationship to Jewish communities and to general society. This is the first book to discuss the cultural transformation of Court Jews in the context of Baroque art and architecture, and the first to illustrate such a diverse and representative selection of works.