In 1936, invited by Andr Breton to contribute to an exhibition of Surrealist objects, Meret Oppenheim (1913-85) decided to act upon a caf conversation she had recently had with Pablo Picasso and his then companion Dora Maar. Commenting on a fur-covered bracelet that Oppenheim had made for the designer Schiaparelli, Picasso remarked that one could cover just about anything in fur, to which Oppenheim had responded, "Even this cup and saucer." The...