Cupid with a Dog

Luigi Saulini

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Luigi Saulini was a hardstone carver of great dexterity. He more frequently produced cameos of shell, for which he charged a tenth the price. Much of his output was based on statuary by his contemporaries. The model here was an as yet unidentified marble group in the round (indicated by the plinth at the bottom). The bracelet, together with another displaying a micromosaic circlet of Italian peasant girls, was bequeathed by a colorful Irishwoman, Maria Morgan, whose knowledge of horses led King Victor Emmanuel of Italy to entrust her with his stables. According to her, the bracelets were the king’s parting gift before she left for the United States, where she became a newspaper reporter on equine matters, eventually retiring to Staten Island.

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