Coffer lock and key

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The shrine of Saint James the Great at the cathedral of Santiago da Compostela was one of the most popular pilgrimage sites of the Middle Ages. Cockleshell emblems of the saint appeared everywhere in Spanish ornament, from nail heads to window grilles. They appear on the bottom end of the two giant staples by which this lock was attached to a coffer or chest. A winged monster with a fish tail ornaments the hasp of the lock; a swiveling baluster conceals the keyhole.

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