Chessmen (32)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The sides are distinguished by their different repoussé patterns. One has a four-petaled flower design on the tops of the major pieces, except the king and queen; on the tops and sides of these is an allover diaper of an almond-shaped motif, which is also on the tops of the pawns. The sides of the pawns are decorated with vertical lines. The other side has a petal design on the tops of all the pieces, pawns included; the sides of the king and queen have a diaper leaf motif. The sides of the pawns are decorated with a herringbone pattern. This set is for Muslim use. According to Ganeshi Lall of Agra, from whom it was acquired by Mr. Pfeiffer in 1931, it was made for Diwan Todar May, in the period of Akbar (the Timurid ruler of Hindustan from 1556 to 1605). There is no proof of such an early date, but these shapes were in existence in the eighteenth century, as we know from Thomas Hyde's Syntagama Dissertationem (Oxford, 1767; see Murray, History of Chess, p. 89). The set should probably be ascribed to the reign of Akbar II (1806–1837).

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