Chess set

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The kings probably represent Frederick Henry, prince of Orange (1584–1647), and Charles V of Spain (1500–1558). The queens' costumes are of an earlier style than the men's, and the queens are probably not intended to represent actual women. The period of Frederick Henry is considered the golden age of the Dutch republic. He continued the struggle for independence started by his father, William of Orange. Frederick died a few months before the completion of the treaty by which the United Provinces gained their independence from Spain in 1648. The earlier phase of the struggle is illustrated by the dark side, the king here wearing the crown of the Empire. There is thus an anachronism between the two sides, carried through in the sixteenth-century costume of the Spanish and seventeenth-century costume of the Dutch.

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