Cheval glass (psyché)

François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The psyché was so named for the heroine in La Fontaine's Les amours de Psyché, who was reputed to have looked at a full-length reflection of herself. Specific reference to the myth is in the frieze containing butterflies, symbols of Psyche. An identical gilt-bronze frieze was on a psyché made for Empress Marie-Louise in 1810. The two winged fantastic creatures on the crest hold a wreath, which probably originally contained a decorative motif or monogram.

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