Trencher (one of a set)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Banquets usually ended with candied fruits or other sweetmeats served on such decorative "spice dishes" of silver or wood. The gold effects were achieved with yellow varnish over a layer of silver-leaf. The verses were written in Black Letter script, with elaborate capital letters in Lombardic script. The verses, either amusing or moralizing, were shared with the other diners.

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