Footed beaker

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This substantial beaker could hold large quantities of wine. The polished scrolls and fruit clusters that project from a matte ground evoke a feeling of abundance that reflects the beaker’s lavish function. Similar auricular (literally "ear-shaped") scrollwork can be seen on the lidded example to the left. This beaker may also originally have had a cover. An auricular-style scrollwork ornament, which originated in the Netherlands in the early seventeenth century (Antje-Maria van Graevenitz. Das niederländische Ohrmuschelornament. Bamberg, 1973), similar to that decorating this voluminous beaker can be seen on a lidded example from the collection, acc. no. 2010.110.38. Literature Fine European Silver. Sale cat., Sotheby’s, Geneva, November 14, 1988, p. 32, no. 73. Judit H. Kolba. Hungarian Silver: The Nicolas M. Salgo Collection. London, 1996, p. 75, no. 53. References Elemér Kőszeghy. Magyarországi ötvösjegyek a középkortól 1867-ig / Merkzeichen der Goldschmiede Ungarns vom Mittelalter bis 1867. Budapest, 1936, no. 687 [maker’s mark]. [Wolfram Koeppe 2015]

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