Part of a valance

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Epirus was an important textile production center in the Balkans. Commercial embroidery made there in great volume for distribution throughout much of the Ottoman empire represents a mainland tradition. But Epirus was also the source of domestic embroideries that are similar to Aegean work. This bolster cover from Epirus is closely related to Greek island embroideries. Featuring three groups of horsemen and attendants amid small-scale birds, animals, vases of flowers, and double-arched structures, the cover was part of the furnishings for a bed or sofa.

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