Tankard

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The nutshell that forms this tankard would have been picked by workers in Southeast Asia or Melanesia, shipped to a European port city, and then sent inland to be ornamented by a German carver and goldsmith. This example features densely carved arabesques in a style adapted from contemporary Islamic metalwork. The lengthy journey undertaken by the raw material would have been appreciated by its owner, as despite the coconut’s foreign origin it was familiar even to those in the landlocked territories of the Holy Roman Empire by at least the thirteenth century.

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