Cup with cover

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ostrich eggs were regarded as both rare and exotic in sixteenth-century England, and thus were considered suitable for mounting in gilt silver. The top of the shell has been sliced off in order to form the cover; the finial in the form of an ostrich is probably a nineteenth-century addition.

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