Crucifix

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The subtle modeling of Christ's elongated limbs and the virtuoso undercutting of his hair and crown of thorns point to the hand of an accomplished sculptor. The elaborate terminal ornaments on the ends of the arms of the cross appear on a number of ivory crucifixions from Italy. The name of the site where the Crucifixion took place, Golgotha or Calvary, means "place of the skull"; sculptures depicting the ground below the cross often show a skull, here lost.

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