Tobacco box

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Oval box; its lid shows a landscape scene with two men shaking hands; one of them is reclining. At the left the personification of fortune can be seen, standing on a globe and holding a billowing sail. Inscribed below: Soo lang t' fortuijn u dient sal u geen vrint onbreken (As long as fortune is with you, you won't lack friends). The underside carries another outdoor scene. A distressed-looking man, his head in his hand, is seated next to a tree. His friend and the figure of fortune are shown leaving him. Inscribed below: Maar als t' fortuijn eens keert dan is u vrint geweken (But when fortune turns around your friend will be gone). With lined rims, molded edges, and plain sides. A tobacco box with the same inscription but with slightly different illustrations is in the collection of Het Nederlands Openluchtmuseum, Arnhem. A similar text was used as a porch inscription in Gronichem (Gorinchem); see Hieronymus Sweerts, Koddige en ernstige opschriften op luyffins, wagens, glazrn, uythangborden, en andere taferelen (Amsterdam, 1682-90) II, p. 113.

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