The sarcophagus of a shrew and more such gems, all selected by Juman Malouf and Wes Anderson in Vienna

An enormous heterogeneous assembly of objects is on display at "Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and other Treasures". The title is taken from one of the exhibits: a coffin for a shrew from ancient Egypt. In his project description, the co-curator Wes Anderson writes, "While Juman Malouf and I can take no credit for the conception and creation of any of the works of art included in this exhibition, we do harbour the humble aspiration that the unconventional groupings and arrangement of the works on display may influence the study of art and antiquity in minor, even trivial, but nevertheless detectable ways for many future generations to come." Four hundred and twenty-three individual objects were gathered on loan from museums in Vienna and Innsbruck

Indirectly, the idea stems from an Andy Warhol show. It is the third time that Sabine Haag, the museum's director, has asked artists of international renown to select objects from the museum's abundant collections and curate these into an exhibition. Jasper Sharp, the adjunct curator for modern and contemporary art, explains: "This programme originated in a catalogue found some years ago in a New York bookshop. It documents 'Raid the Icebox I with Andy Warhol', an exhibition that travelled between three different museums in the United States in 1969 and 1970. Warhol was invited by Jean and Dominique de Menil to curate an exhibition drawn from the collections of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art. Jean de Menil asked the question, 'What would happen if an important contemporary artist were to choose an exhibition from the reserves?'" This enquiry was the basis of the show by Juman Malouf and Wes Anderson. At the inauguration, Anderson explained how they rose to the challenge. "My wife and I love this museum and we've been coming here on a regular basis since we met over a decade ago. We were honoured to be asked and eager to do anything we could to support this magnificent institution. We though it was going going to be easy, because our tastes and interests in colours, shapes, light and shadow in art were so similar as to be almost interchangeable. We thought we would briskly choose several pieces that we both love. And that would be that. Of course we were wrong. I think we expected to be wrong. We just didn't expect to be so wrong for so long. The exhibition is the culmination of several years of patient, frustrating negotiation, bitter, angry debate, sometimes completely irrational confrontation, and often Machiavellian duplicity and deception. Perhaps I am as guilty as she is, but I doubt it", said Anderson, making the audience titter.

They had at their disposal the collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Weltmuseum Wien and the Theatermuseum and the neighbouring Natural History Museum. The rooms are striking for the heterogeneity of the gathered objects. They run the gamut from period portraits to a room themed on the colour green, showing 20 types of malachite, pineapple-shaped vases, a painting called Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (1525) by Bernardino Luini, a green shantung dress worn for a 1978 performance of Hedda Gabler (a play by Henrik Ibsen) on loan from the Vienna Theatermuseum, and an alcohol-preserved tree frog (Hyla arborea) from the city's Natural History Museum. There is a room with tortoises, eggs, felines and owls; a room dedicated to hands and what they can produce: vases, the finger of a solid bronze statue from Imperial Rome, and a hollow-cast bronze bust of Hercules. There is a 12^th-century crucifix (also bronze) and many busts in different materials and from different eras, even an amethyst bust of a man, probably from Italy, made in the 17^th century. There are theatre costumes and props such as a sword-like "theatrical utensil" from Java, made of wood before 1887. There are boxes to contain crowns, like the one for Rudolph II, and a box of Domino en Musique from 1793, whose pieces are decorated with musical notes instead of pips. There is a box containing two wooden spheres, the mummy portrait of a young man from Rome in the 2^nd century AD, and statues, more crucifixes, antique violins and Maori musical instruments. There are portraits of the children of nobility, and a beautifully made glass jellyfish. Each room is introduced by a drawing that indicates the theme of the selection. Each room is a cabinet of objects of virtu. This is an exhibition to be seen, and its setting in the austere building of the Kunsthistorisches Museum adds to the attraction. Next fall, the show will come to the Fondazione Prada in Milan. A few Viennese objects will be missing, but of course the capital of Lombardy has some good substitutes up its sleeve