Adoration of the Shepherds

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Enamel painters in fifteenth-century Lombardy applied opaque colors on top of broad areas of brilliantly colored translucent enamels that were fused to grounds of silver. Their work is highly decorative; unlike enameled gold or enameled cooper, however, enameled silver is inherently unstable and easily perishes, so that examples seldom survive in good condition.

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