Tobacco box

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The box is oblong with rounded ends. The illustration on the lid is framed by parts of brick walls and leaf scrolls. Two women and a man seated beneath trees are watching a large bird. Inscribed below: Ik soen mijn soete lief op her lant (I kiss my sweetheart in the country). The underside shows a scene, similarly framed, of a couple walking along the waterside. A bird is depicted in the foreground and sailing vessels in the background. Inscribed below: En ik soen se aen een klaere waterkant (And I kiss her at the clear waterside). Rims are lined and edges molded. The ends and back have geometrical ornament. The front side is inscribed: Verlaat de weerelt (Leave the world). This phrase is said to be frequently found on tobacco boxes: see Van der Linden, "Les boîtes en cuivres," p. 203.

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