Scent bottle

Vienna

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Medieval travelers used leather pilgrim flasks to transport water. The form was appropriated in later centuries for large, opulent examples made in silver or glass. Employed on small scale, it was an appropriate choice for a luxury object intended to hold an expensive fragrance. This example is embellished with low-relief decoration, including shells and chinoiserie figures, and ornamental strapwork.

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