Badge of the Order of Saint Michael

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Both sides of this pendant contain shell cameos with well-worn, almost mirror images of the archangel Michael putting down Satan. The badge belonged to a member of the French Royal Order of Saint Michael, which was founded by Louis XI in 1469. Badges with shell were reputedly presented to ecclesiastic members, whose numbers had swelled to one hundred before they were reduced to six by decree of Louis XIV in 1655 as part of a reform of the chivalric order.

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