Beaker

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Engraved letters and numerals on this beaker date the work and may one day identify its patron. They surround a stylized shield ornament with a helmet, sword, and grapes. The patron likely donated this beaker to a guild or a corporation—possibly the local civic militia company—to which he belonged. Members of equal standing within these groups would use valuable beakers to share expensive alcoholic beverages. It is rare to find snakeskin ornament applied to such a bold and substantial object. There is a mark on the underside, the initials "PM" under a crown, but they are not contained within a shield. To date, the master who used such a mark remains unidentified; possibly the maker did not belong to the guild, and this may also explain the rudimentary quality of the engraving.

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