Pilgrim bottle with screw top

Antoine Syjalon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Satirical references to Catholic practice in the form of fantastic, dog-faced creatures holding rosaries and other accessories appear on this flask. It was probably made as a diplomatic gift for a foreign Protestant prince, Johann Casimir of Bavaria (1543–1592), whose arms appear on it. The decorative scheme of fabulous beings, fruits, birds, and masks is derived from the work of the engraver and architect Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (1510/12–1585).

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