Esprit Spherique offers a joyful profusion of globes, from Christmas ornaments, croquet balls and ammunition to magical, religious and artistic talismans. This rich and surprising selection, gathered obsessively by the Collezione Legler and augmented by work from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the Fundacion Joan Miro among others, emphasizes pattern and difference within type, and the sphere's pure geometry, intense meaning, history and symbolic reference. Perfection and completeness, the container and the contained--interpretations of spherical form range in meaning, legitimacy and grade of abstraction. In addition to the art-world commentators who explore those ideas here, contributors include professors in the history of mathematics and classical philology, as well as an analyst/psychotherapist, who consider the sphere's role as an eternal icon, a powerful and flexible presence in theoretical, cultural, scientific and social worlds.