Good Shepherd

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This intriguing composition portraying the Christ Child as a shepherd dozing on a mountaintop is known in numerous examples, all believed to originate in the regions of India colonized by Portugal. A tree once stood behind the Child. The distinctive iconography has led some to see links to ancient Avestan beliefs or the traditional image of the Buddha. Most carvings of the theme feature a "Fountain of Life" beneath His feet and the Magdalen reclining in a niche at the base.

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