Summer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The sheaf of wheat, the grain and flowers that fill this maiden's basket, and the sickle and flail on her pedestal front are emblematic of summer, suggesting that she may have been part of a series of ornamental sculptures representing the four seasons. Canephores, or figures carrying baskets on their heads, frequently appear as gilt-bronze mounts on Neoclassical furniture; they are less commonly encountered on such a large scale and in a semidurable material.

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