
Panel of velvet
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Imported Middle Eastern textiles were highly valued luxury goods during this period, and this velvet pattern was originally the product of the Persian workshops of Tabriz. The number of surviving pieces in European and American collections suggests that this attractive pattern was produced in relatively large quantities; it may have been imitated by Italian velvet weavers and produced for a long period of time.
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.