Book cover

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This exquisite openwork binding may have been created in Amsterdam, where the book of Psalms it contains was published. The scrolling grotesque decoration includes medallions with The Annunciation (front) and The Adoration of the Shepherds (back), while King David playing before Saul is engraved on the spine. This precious object eloquently illustrates the esteem in which Dutch Protestants held the hundred and fifty Psalms, oft-invoked of lament and praise.

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