
Pair of double-headed monsters
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Venice is suggested only as a possible place of origin for these exceptionally vigorous Baroque creatures; Augsburg and even France would be equally plausible. It is no easier to reconstruct the purpose for which they were made. Their undersides are slightly flattened and pierced for attachment, so that they could have flanked a bust on an elaborate pedestal, or, perhaps more likely, they may have embellished a fountain. [James D. Draper, 1984]
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.