Wide-rimmed bowl with figures from Virgil's Aeneid

Maestro Giorgio Andreoli

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In Virgil’s Aeneid, humans are subject to the whims of the gods. This bowl belongs to a service featuring characters from the tale, and the artist ingeniously used the bowl's divided surface to depict the dual realms of heaven and earth. Humans are restricted to the deep central well, and gods to the broad, flat rim. Here, the mortal Anchises leans on his staff, while divine Juno and Aeolus are pictured among the clouds.

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