Pasiphaë Adorning the Bull with Flowers

César-Isidore-Henry Cros

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This fragment shows Pasiphaë adorning the horns of a bull with a garland of flowers, which is a story from Greek mythology. Cros’s subject matter, his use of the palest possible tones and the softness of the modeling designed to give an indefinite impression, are in accord with the Symbolist trends of the years 1880–90. Pâte-de-verre was a material made from variously colored powdered glass placed in a clay mold and then fired in a kiln. Cros developed the technique in 1893.

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