Barbara de Braganza

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The chain around the man's neck (see pendant bust 1975.433.1) may represent the Order of the Golden Fleece, awarded only to Catholic dignitaries. It is unclear whether the pair, designed for export, was intended as actual portraits (perhaps representing the Spanish viceroy and his wife, who ruled the Philippines from Mexico City), but the carver no doubt based his work on an engraved or painted European model.

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