Belt

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This belt consists of eighteen hinged segments and a larger rectangular section with a round plaque in the center. Additional jewelry or silk tassel ornaments were once suspended from the three attached loops. The various colors of the semiprecious stones and the traces of enamel are reminiscent of sumptuous and exotic Ottoman-inspired designs. At the same time, several details evoke early Medieval– Romanesque– goldsmith work, such as reliquaries from northern Europe that survived at least until the early sixteenth century. Literature Silhouettes, Portrait Miniatures, Objects of Vertu, Gold Boxes, and European Silver. Sale cat., Sotheby’s, London, March 7, 1983, p. 56, no. 171. Judit H. Kolba. Hungarian Silver: The Nicolas M. Salgo Collection. London, 1996, p. 96, no. 74. References Important English, Continental and American Silver and Gold. Sale cat., Christie’s, New York, May 17, 2011, nos. 117-118. [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