The Relief of Vienna, September 12, 1683

Johan Ignaz Bendl

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This medal commemorates the end of the two-month siege of Vienna by the Ottomans, when the forces commanded by Jan Sobieski of Poland subdued the Muslim enemy. The obverse shows portraits of the Christian allies: Pope Innocent XI, Emperor Leopold I, King John III of Poland, and Marcantonio Giustiniani, doge of Venice. On the reverse, the eagles of the Habsburgs and Poland surround the carcass of a camel, symbolizing the Turkish army; Venetian boats arrive in the distance. "For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together" (Matthew 24:28) is inscribed on the banner.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art