Fragment with Sempervivum tectorum motif

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The stylized floral design of this textile is delineated by fine lines of green silk velvet; the rest of the surface is covered with gold metal-wrapped threads, lying flat in the background and forming loops in the plant forms. The large flowering plant in the center and the vine that surrounds it can be identified as Sempervivum tectorum (now commonly known as "hens and chicks"), a species of hardy succulent that has the ability to thrive in extreme mountainous conditions. Recent research has revealed that this plant motif was associated with the Sforza family of Milan starting in the mid-fifteenth century. Variations on this pattern were also produced as monochrome pile-on-pile silk velvets and the Museum has red and green examples.

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