Tobacco box

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The box is oval; its lid depicts an amorous couple stretched out on a bed. A second woman peeks around one of the curtains. Inscribed below: Klaes nemt de borst van Trientie in de hant terwijl hij groen in’t heart na’t ander wat tertant (Klaes takes Trientie’s breast in his hand, while with desiring heart heart he longs for the other). The underside shows another indoor scene framed by brick walls. A couple is smoking, the woman seated on the man’s knees, while another woman looks on from behind the curtains. Inscribed below: Moegt ick lieve meijt u lippen eens genaken wij souden allebij in het paradeijs geraken (Dear girl, could I touch your lips, both of us would be in paradise). With lined rims and molded edges, the borders and sides engraved with leaf scrolls.

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