Portrait of Benedetto Pistrucci

Maria Elisa Pistrucci

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Benedetto Pistrucci taught gem carving to his children. This is an exceedingly rare tribute from a carver to her father and mentor. The buoyant curls and muttonchops above the timelessly classical drapery at the neck are easily interpretable as silvery white marks of distinction.

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