Statue robe

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Created to adorn a cult statue, probably of the Infant Christ or of the Virgin Mary, during Catholic feast days and holy days, this distinctive cape is a rare survival of Sicilian coral work, also appreciable at The Met in the vestments 2009.300.2984a-c. With its rosy hues, coral symbolized the spilled blood of Christ whose sacrifice, Christians believe, saved Humanity; appropriate to the island of Sicily, coral was also believed to have talismanic powers, protecting its bearer when travelling on water. Here, the beads are nestled within shimmering silver threads- drawn, beaten, coiled, and wrapped around silken cores.

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