Pharmacy jar (albarello)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Male busts in profile—one youthful, one mature—appear on the front of these two albarelli (see also 46.85.13), while the backs are painted with a graceful floriated design. Given their close similarity, it seems likely that the jars belonged to a single pharmacy set, which might originally have included dozens, if not hundreds, of vessels. In the absence of labels, the different physiognomies could help the merchant distinguish one jar from the next.

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