Pharmacy jar with the Apollo Belvedere and King David

Nicoletto da Modena

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The decoration on this jar combines pagan antiquity and biblical history—a common pairing in Renaissance Italy. In one roundel, the Old Testament prophet King David appears playing his harp. On the other side is a lively rendering of the Apollo Belvedere, the ancient marble statue discovered in Rome in 1489. The label—"Conserve with borage"—appears on both sides.

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