Chessmen (32)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Eastern convention is followed in having a general instead of a queen, and an elephant instead of a bishop-with a rider for the "good" side, without for the 'bad" side. Russian convention has ships for rooks; here they too are differentiated, by being double-masted on the "good" side, having only one mast on the other. The white king, general, and pawns are dressed like Roman soldiers, the corresponding red pieces like Turks. The white king and general have European mid-eighteenth-century hairstyles, with long curls above the ears and long queues tied with a ribbon at the neck. This set is thus very characteristic of a group of Russian sets in which some Eastern conventions are seen alongside of European ones.

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