Tiny Treasures

$24.95 at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Intricate and appealing, curious and uncanny, miniature works of art exert surprising power. Over thousands of years and across cultures, artists and artisans have created small objects for many purposes: tiny gold amulets of ancient Egyptian gods to protect the wearer, portable European medieval shrines made of precious materials to hold the relics of saints, English and American miniature painted portraits to keep loved ones close, Dutch dollhouse furnishings to display the maker’s skill and the owner’s…