Watch

Jacob Wybrants

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Today Leeuwarden is a small, rather quiet city, but in the seventeenth century it was the capital of a wealthy Dutch province as well as the seat of the Prince Stadholder of Friesland. It is not entirely unlikely, therefore, that a relatively unimportant watchmaker found a patron for this elegant watch. In 1648 the estate of Leeuwarden goldsmith Minne Sikkes (recorded 1618, d. 1648) contained one large crystal watch case and four smaller ones.

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