Bust of a Roman

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The man’s compactly curled hair and beard recall those of the Antonine emperors. Ernst Kris, author of the Weil catalogue, reasonably suggested Aelius Verus, whom Hadrian adopted as praetor and consul but who predeceased him by drinking poison. Aelius Verus was habitually shown with an anxiously knitted brow. This largish caramel-hued gem was in the Marlborough collection in the eighteenth century.

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