Chest front

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The panel features a pair of fabulous female figures with extremities in the shape of scrolling tendrils, the longest of which end in cornucopias. The tilted heads draw attention to a wreath enclosing a shield that may have once contained a coat of arms. From the figures’ windswept curls to the ribbons on the wreath, swirling forms heighten the composition’s liveliness. Corresponding to a Renaissance reinterpretation of ancient imagery, the decoration may have been inspired by northern or Italian prints, which frequently served as models for the carvings adorning French chests.

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