Box with beadwork

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Imported glass beads were used sparingly in English embroidery from the 1630s on. Here, the entire surface of a wooden box is covered with strings of Venetian beads forming a pattern of symmetrical flowers against a dark ground.

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