Tobacco box
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The box is oblong with rounded ends. On the lid Charlemagne is depicted, conversing with a monk and surrounded by children against an architectural background. Scrolls and trelliswork decoration flank the scene. Inscribed at the upper right side of the scene, on a mock signboard is: APC. Inscribed at the left end is: Karel de Groote (Charlemagne) and at the right side: In den jare 1746 (In the year 1746). On the underside, within a wavy-line border, is the inscription: De groote keizer van wiens werk de vrucht blijft leven,/Die veel voor’t heil sijns volks, veel voor beschaving deed, / Zag voor sijn helden staal niet slechts de vijand beven/Neen 't onderwijs dat hij der teedre jeugd deed geven / Was 't wapen waar hij steeds de domheid mee bestreed (The great emperor, the fruit of whose work still lives,/Who did much for the welfare of his nation, and much for civilization/Saw the enemy tremble not only for his herds steel/No, the education that he provided for tender youth/Was the weapon with which he always fought stupidity.) Charles the Great (742?- 814), who was emperor of the West and king of the Franks, built a residence, De Valkhof, in Nijmegen in 777. Some remains of it still exist. The front side of the box has leaf scrolls and the back side shows a leaf composition. This is the only box in the collection with chased decoration.
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.