Dish with rocks, flowers, and birds

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In addition to the standard motif of rocks, flowers, and birds, several of the Eight Treasures—which originated in Buddhist art but are here employed as general symbols of good fortune—decorate the molded rim of the plate, whose shape was copied from contemporaneous French silver.

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