Casket (cassetta)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The variety of fantastic ornament employed for the decoration of this casket was derived from Roman wall decoration. After centuries of burial, these decorations were revealed during the excavations of the Golden house of Nero in Rome, begun about 1480. As they were found underground in grotto-like spaces, they were named grottesche, or grotesques.

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