Tea caddy

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

For the marquetry of this tea caddy, layers of lighter and darker straw were stacked and cut at the same time before being separated. That resulted in identical chinoiserie decoration, which was used with a twist: on the right, a light ground is inlaid with darker straw ornament and vice versa on the left.

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