Bailiff's mace

Bailiff's mace

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The mace was the symbol of the Bailiff's authority. When exercising his police powers of arrest, the Bailiff had to be holding his mace. It was not a weapon either for defense or offense.


European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.