Armchair with the cipher of James II and Mary of Modena

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The carved decoration includes lion and eagle heads, a lion and a unicorn, and the cipher JMRR within a wreath between them, indicating that the chair was made during the brief reign (1685–88) of James II and his queen, Mary of Modena, possibly as a gift to a high functionary of the court or an institution in the king's favor.

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