Comb (part of a set)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A parure is a matched set of jewelry typically consisting of a necklace, brooch, earrings, bracelets, and tiara. The fashionable jewelry for the 1830s and 1840s made a visual impact at a modest expense. Gold was used in very thin sheets or wires to provide more surface for the same amount of metal. Semi-precious colored stones such as amethyst, aquamarine or pink topaz, which can be large yet still inexpensive, were preferred to precious stones.

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