Piece

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Velvet with the pattern delineated solely by the contrast between two heights of the dense silk velvet pile was particularly popular in the sixteenth century. This pattern of lobed palmettes, sometimes incorporating crowns, was made into robes or sashes worn by the senators of the Venetian Republic. It was also used to make ecclesiastical vestments. The crimson shade is associated with the Venetian senators, but the Museum also has an example woven in deep blue silk.

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