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Typically Venetian are the punched grounds against which the forms dance on these frieze sections. More sinuously elegant than reliefs by leading Venetian bronze sculptors of the generation active about 1500–1520—Alessandro Leopardi, Vittore Gambello (known as Camelio), and the Master of the Barbarigo Reliefs—the present two (see also Capricorn, 2004.440.1) may date slightly later but are still informed by High Renaissance standards of expression and orga nization. The band to which they belonged was exceptionally large—on the basis of these two of the zodiac's twelve signs, the original ring has been projected at thirty-two to thirty-eight inches in diameter. Its function can only be surmised. At Sagittarius's top left are faint remains of an inscription, which is mostly filed away. One can discern F. CITA0 (abbreviations formai and anno) and a space for numerals, of which the last may be a two. When first recorded in the mid-nineteenth century, in the fabled Fejérváry-Pulszky collection in Budapest, the fragments were said to be of ancient Roman origin. Working in support of that idea, someone did his best to destroy the inscription's contradictory evidence.

Frieze fragment

Sagittarius (section of a zodiac frieze)

1582

Bronze

Various games of cards and chance, such as lansquenet, faro, quadrille, piquet, and cavagnole, had long been popular entertainment at the French court, where the stakes were high and entire fortunes could be won or lost at the gaming table. Reporting to Empress Maria Theresa on March 18, 1777, the Austrian diplomat Florimond-Claude de Mercy-Argenteau declared: "The gambling of the Queen grows more and more unrestrained. The public know that the identical games, strictly prohibited to them by the laws of Paris, are played nightly and to excess by the Queen."[1] To accommodate all those who might wish to participate in the play, a large set of furniture consisting of thirty side chairs, six voyeuses, or spectators' chairs, and a fire screen was ordered on August 12, 1786, for Louis XVI's Salon des Jeux (Gaming Room) at the Chateau de Fontainebleau. A label pasted underneath the seats of the Museum's three chairs (see also 45.60.42, .43) identifies them as part of this ensemble, which was commissioned for the court's annual sojourn at Fontainebleau in October 1787. The set was never used as intended because the royal visit did not occur that year or the next. In fact, the king and his family left Versailles in October 1789, never to return to the palace, nor did they visit Fontainebleau again.

Side chair

Jean Baptiste Boulard

Side chair (Chaise à la reine) (part of a set)

1786–87

Carved and gilded beech; silk damask (not original)

Various games of cards and chance, such as lansquenet, faro, quadrille, piquet, and cavagnole, had long been popular entertainment at the French court, where the stakes were high and entire fortunes could be won or lost at the gaming table. Reporting to Empress Maria Theresa on March 18, 1777, the Austrian diplomat Florimond-Claude de Mercy-Argenteau declared: "The gambling of the Queen grows more and more unrestrained. The public know that the identical games, strictly prohibited to them by the laws of Paris, are played nightly and to excess by the Queen."[1] To accommodate all those who might wish to participate in the play, a large set of furniture consisting of thirty side chairs, six voyeuses, or spectators' chairs, and a fire screen was ordered on August 12, 1786, for Louis XVI's Salon des Jeux (Gaming Room) at the Chateau de Fontainebleau. A label pasted underneath the seats of the Museum's three chairs (see also 45.60.42, .43) identifies them as part of this ensemble, which was commissioned for the court's annual sojourn at Fontainebleau in October 1787. The set was never used as intended because the royal visit did not occur that year or the next. In fact, the king and his family left Versailles in October 1789, never to return to the palace, nor did they visit Fontainebleau again.

Side chair

Jean Baptiste Boulard

Side chair (Chaise à la reine) (part of a set)

1786–87

Carved and gilded beech; silk damask (not original)

The pottery established at University City, outside of Saint Louis, Missouri, was the brainchild of visionary Edward Gardner Lewis. He sought to experiment with a new approach to women’s education, which included publishing a journal and offering mail-order classes. To launch his pottery enterprise, Lewis lured Taxile Doat, the eminent French ceramist from Sèvres; Adelaide Alsop Robineau, master porcelain artist from Syracuse, New York, and her husband, Samuel; and English –born potter Frederick Hurten Rhead to University City. Having discovered a vein of kaolin clay (the key ingredient for porcelain) during the excavation for Lewis’s publishing headquarters, he decided that the pottery would exclusively focus on porcelain. The intimate environment of these superbly talented potters fostered close collaboration among the artists there. Unfortunately, University City’s Utopian ideals proved impossible to sustain, and the principle ceramists disbanded in the Spring of 1911. Later that year, however, the pottery reorganized and Doat returned to University. Although he continued to create some elaborately decorated showpieces, most of the production concentrated on cast forms, many recalling shapes Doat had produced at Sèvres. They generally featured seductive, often shimmering crystalline glazes. This gourd shaped vase is characteristic of the pottery’s later years. It is a simplified version of a model that Doat originated at Sevres. Whereas the original design has a long, thin, ribbed neck, the University City vase is blunt and short, thus far easier to cast and fire. In addition, the American version has a flat base, another concession to ease of production. With its subtle crystalline glazes, it exemplifies the sophisticated glazes that characterize the work of University City. In a promotional pamphlet of about 1914 the pottery claimed: "No two pieces are alike in Crystallization nor can any of the high fire Crystalline pieces to be sold be duplicated, each piece offered being an exclusive gem of the high temperature at which it is produced."

Vase

University City Pottery

Vase

1913

Porcelain

On October 7, 1790, many European royals and aristocrats were gathered in Frankfurt to attend the coronation of Leopold II as Holy Roman Emperor. Ferdinand IV (1751–1825), king of Naples, was among those present for this solemn event. Married to the new emperor’s sister, Maria Carolina, Ferdinand was the brother-rin-law of both Leopold and Marie-Antoinette. At this time of social and political instability caused by the French Revolution, the Parisian marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre and his business partner, Martin-Eloi Lignereux, traveled to Frankfurt as well. They were looking for new clients and lucrative commissions. This secretary (or its pair) and a matching commode were among the luxury goods they brought along with them and offered for sale. Mounted with Japanese lacquer and exquisite gilt bronze, both pieces were purchased by the king of Naples, who ordered an additional secretary and a matching rolltop desk in 1792. The set of furniture was placed in Ferdinand’s study at the royal palace of Caserta. Jakob Philipp Hackert (1737–1807), who as court painter to Ferdinand IV created gouaches for display in the king’s study, described the interior in a letter of December 4, 1792, to his friend Count Dönhoff in Berlin: "Everything is bronze and lacquer, the furniture is from Paris, the room is beautiful and splendid and cost thirty thousand ducats with all the decoration, which is simple but precious."

Drop-front secretary on stand

Adam Weisweiler

Drop-front secretary on stand (secrètaire à abattant or secrétaire en cabinet) (one of a pair) (part of a set)

ca. 1790

Oak veneered with ebony, amaranth, holly, ebonized holly, satinwood, Japanese and French lacquer panels, gilt-bronze mounts, brocatelle marble top (not original); steel springs; morocco leather (not original)

Various games of cards and chance, such as lansquenet, faro, quadrille, piquet, and cavagnole, had long been popular entertainment at the French court, where the stakes were high and entire fortunes could be won or lost at the gaming table. Reporting to Empress Maria Theresa on March 18, 1777, the Austrian diplomat Florimond-Claude de Mercy-Argenteau declared: "The gambling of the Queen grows more and more unrestrained. The public know that the identical games, strictly prohibited to them by the laws of Paris, are played nightly and to excess by the Queen."[1] To accommodate all those who might wish to participate in the play, a large set of furniture consisting of thirty side chairs, six voyeuses, or spectators' chairs, and a fire screen was ordered on August 12, 1786, for Louis XVI's Salon des Jeux (Gaming Room) at the Chateau de Fontainebleau. A label pasted underneath the seats of the Museum's three chairs (see also 45.60.42, .43) identifies them as part of this ensemble, which was commissioned for the court's annual sojourn at Fontainebleau in October 1787. The set was never used as intended because the royal visit did not occur that year or the next. In fact, the king and his family left Versailles in October 1789, never to return to the palace, nor did they visit Fontainebleau again.

Side chair

Jean Baptiste Boulard

Side chair (Chaise à la reine) (part of a set)

1786–87

Carved and gilded beech; silk damask (not original)

Steeped in ceramics from birth, Hugh C. Robertson pursued his craft with fierce devotion and a passion for experimentation. From a family of trained English ceramists, he honed his skills in New Jersey before settling in Massachusetts as one of the founders of Chelsea Keramic Art Works and later, Dedham Pottery. Robertson’s lifelong explorations in glazes, particularly their color and texture, make him one of the key figures of American art pottery at the turn of the twentieth century.

Vase

Chelsea Keramic Art Works

Vase

ca. 1885–89

Stoneware

Man with lyre and staff, woman with lamp, on opposite sides of door

Oinochoe, chous

Terracotta oinochoe: chous (jug)

ca. 430–420 BCE

Terracotta

Steeped in ceramics from birth, Hugh C. Robertson pursued his craft with fierce devotion and a passion for experimentation. From a family of trained English ceramists, he honed his skills in New Jersey before settling in Massachusetts as one of the founders of Chelsea Keramic Art Works and later, Dedham Pottery. Robertson’s lifelong explorations in glazes, particularly their color and texture, make him one of the key figures of American art pottery at the turn of the twentieth century.

Vase

Hugh C. Robertson

Vase

ca. 1885–89

Stoneware

Located in Boston’s North End, the Paul Revere Pottery developed out of a philanthropic venture funded by Helen Osborne Storrow, a prominent Boston philanthropist, for young immigrant women, of mostly Italian and Eastern European descent. The programming centered on readings from literary classics, classes in music and dancing, and provided a social space, and various groups met at different times; the group of older girls came on Saturday evenings and adopted the name Saturday Evening Girls. A pottery class was introduced in 1906 by Edith Guerrier, who was the first librarian in charge of the clubs. She was joined by Edith Brown, an illustrator of children’s books. The two women were the guiding force behind the development of the pottery made by the Saturday Evening Girls. Brown provided the artistic designs that were then executed by the women. Like Newcomb Pottery and others established at the time, its aim was to provide young women with a modest sum of money through the sale of their wares. While most of the pottery’s output was functional wares, with a specialty in children’s tableware, a small number were far more ambitious in both design and execution.

Vase

Paul Revere Pottery

Vase

ca. 1908–15

Earthenware

On the shoulder, a seated woman, perhaps a goddess, is approached by four youths and eight dancing maidens

Lekythos

Amasis Painter

Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

ca. 550–530 BCE

Terracotta

Interior, youth and man

Kylix

Douris

Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)

ca. 480–470 BCE

Terracotta

The motif of Nine Heroes drawn from Classical, Jewish, and Christian traditions was first mentioned in a French poem in 1312, and soon became a popular theme throughout art and literature in late medieval Europe. Pulled from both history and legend, Hector of Troy, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar represented the Heroes of the Classical era. Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabeus, from the Hebrew Bible and related accounts, constituted the Jewish Heroes. Finally, from medieval Europe, King Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon formed the Christian Heroes. Celebrated as perfect embodiments of chivalry, the Nine Heroes provided exemplars of worthy warriors and just leaders for men of the noble and upper classes.

Tapestry

Joshua and David (from the Heroes Tapestries)

ca. 1400–1410

Wool warp, wool wefts

Donkey; keras (drinking horn)

Askos in the form of a lobster claw

Class of Seven Lobster-Claws

Terracotta vase in the form of a lobster claw

ca. 460 BCE

Terracotta

On the body, obverse, woman with attendant in naiskos (shrine) flanked by youths and women

Loutrophoros

Metope Painter

Terracotta loutrophoros (ceremonial vase for water)

3rd quarter of the 4th century BCE

Terracotta

Women at fountain house

Hydria

Class of Hamburg 1917.477

Terracotta hydria (water jar)

ca. 510–500 BCE

Terracotta

One side, Hephaistos on a donkey accompanied by satyrs and maenads

Column krater, fragments

Lydos

Fragment of a terracotta column-krater, joins 1997.388a-eee

ca. 560–540 BCE

Terracotta

The motif of Nine Heroes drawn from Classical, Jewish, and Christian traditions was first mentioned in a French poem in 1312, and soon became a popular theme throughout art and literature in late medieval Europe. Pulled from both history and legend, Hector of Troy, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar represented the Heroes of the Classical era. Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabeus, from the Hebrew Bible and related accounts, constituted the Jewish Heroes. Finally, from medieval Europe, King Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon formed the Christian Heroes. Celebrated as perfect embodiments of chivalry, the Nine Heroes provided exemplars of worthy warriors and just leaders for men of the noble and upper classes.

Tapestry

Hector of Troy (?) (from the Heroes Tapestries)

ca. 1400–1410

Wool warp, wool wefts

Interior, satyr and maenad

Kylix

Makron

Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)

ca. 490–480 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, return of Hephaistos

Kylix, band-cup

Oakeshott Painter

Terracotta kylix: band-cup (drinking cup)

ca. 550 BCE

Terracotta

Plates like this were made in sets for use in wealthy homes. The Greek letters at the ends of the cross-shaped monogram may refer to the owner, Theodore A(?). The control stamps on the back of the plate date it early in the reign of the emperor Heraclius (610–41).

Plate

Plate with Monogram

610–613

Silver, niello

These three vases (58.75.89a, b–.91) were originally accompanied by two additional vases to form a set, or garniture, that was one of the most extraordinary and expensive garnitures produced at Sèvres during the eighteenth century. The boat-shaped vase, known at the factory as a pot-pourri à vaisseau or a pot-pourri en navire, would have occupied the central position in the grouping flanked by the two elephant-head vases (vase à tête d’éléphant) and two vases with ear-shaped handles (vase à oreilles) now at the Musée du Louvre, Paris.[1] The garniture is remarkable not only for its originality of the vase forms but also for its novel and extremely highquality decoration.

Vase

Jean-Claude Duplessis

Vase (vase à tête d'éléphant) (one of a pair)

ca. 1758

Soft-paste porcelain decorated in polychrome enamels, gold

In 628–29 the Byzantine emperor Herakleios (r. 610–41) successfully ended a long, costly war with Persia and regained Jerusalem, Egypt, and other Byzantine territory. Silver stamps dating to 613–29/30 on the reverse of these masterpieces place their manufacture in Herakleios’s reign. The biblical figures on the plates wear the costume of the early Byzantine court, suggesting to the viewer that, like Saul and David, the Byzantine emperor was a ruler chosen by God. Elaborate dishes used for display at banquets were common in the late Roman and early Byzantine world; generally decorated with classical themes, these objects conveyed wealth, social status, and learning. This set of silver plates may be the earliest surviving example of the use of biblical scenes for such displays. Their intended arrangement may have closely followed the biblical order of the events, and their display may have conformed to the shape of a Christogram, or monogram for the name of Christ.

Plate

Plate with David's Confrontation with Eliab

629–630

Silver

In 628–29 the Byzantine emperor Herakleios (r. 610–41) successfully ended a long, costly war with Persia and regained Jerusalem, Egypt, and other Byzantine territory. Silver stamps dating to 613–29/30 on the reverse of these masterpieces place their manufacture in Herakleios’s reign. The biblical figures on the plates wear the costume of the early Byzantine court, suggesting to the viewer that, like Saul and David, the Byzantine emperor was a ruler chosen by God. Elaborate dishes used for display at banquets were common in the late Roman and early Byzantine world; generally decorated with classical themes, these objects conveyed wealth, social status, and learning. This set of silver plates may be the earliest surviving example of the use of biblical scenes for such displays. Their intended arrangement may have closely followed the biblical order of the events, and their display may have conformed to the shape of a Christogram, or monogram for the name of Christ.

Plate

Plate with David Anointed by Samuel

629–630

Silver

In 628–29 the Byzantine emperor Herakleios (r. 610–41) successfully ended a long, costly war with Persia and regained Jerusalem, Egypt, and other Byzantine territory. Silver stamps dating to 613–29/30 on the reverse of these masterpieces place their manufacture in Herakleios’s reign. The biblical figures on the plates wear the costume of the early Byzantine court, suggesting to the viewer that, like Saul and David, the Byzantine emperor was a ruler chosen by God. Elaborate dishes used for display at banquets were common in the late Roman and early Byzantine world; generally decorated with classical themes, these objects conveyed wealth, social status, and learning. This set of silver plates may be the earliest surviving example of the use of biblical scenes for such displays. Their intended arrangement may have closely followed the biblical order of the events, and their display may have conformed to the shape of a Christogram, or monogram for the name of Christ.

Plate

Plate with the Arming of David

629–630

Silver

This figure of a seated man playing a harp is among the earliest of the few known Cycladic representations of musicians. With its balanced proportions and engaging sense of movement, it is one of the most accomplished examples. The artist used the limited tools available with great technical skill. The harp’s extremely delicate arch was achieved by gently grinding down the stone with natural abrasives such as sand, pumice, and emery.

Statuette of a seated harp player

Marble seated harp player

2800–2700 BCE

Marble

This is a rare example of Italian armor decorated with fluted surfaces in the German fashion. Its etched and richly gilt decoration is derived from Christian symbolism and the Bible. The band across the top of the breastplate depicts the Virgin and Child in the center, Saint Paul on the right, and Saint George on the left. A Latin inscription below reads, CRISTVS RES VENIT IN PACE ET DEVS HOMO FACTVS ES (Christ the King came in peace and God was made man). Another inscription, across the top of the backplate, reads, IESVS AVTEM TRANSIENS PERMEDIVM ILORVM IBAT. (But Jesus passing through their midst went his way [Luke 4:30]). The Trinity––Father, Son, and Holy Spirit––is depicted on the front of the gorget (collar).

Elements of a light-cavalry armor

Elements of an Italian Light-Cavalry Armor <i>alla Tedesca</i> (in the German Fashion)

ca. 1510

Steel, gold, copper alloy, leather

The high foot and large cup of this elegant work are typical features of chalices used in the early church for the distribution of consecrated wine during the Divine Liturgy (Eucharist). The inscription records a family’s hope for salvation in the afterlife.

Chalice

Chalice

6th century, 20th century restorations

Silver, parcel gilt

Polychrome; Dionysos and female figure.

Vase Fragment

Body of a terracotta vase

3rd–2nd century BCE

Terracotta

This Etruscan pottery style is associated with workshops active in Chiusi and Volterra during the second half of the fourth century B.C. In addition to the duck's body and wings with carefully rendered feathers, each side is decorated with a floating nude female holding a ribbon. On some related pieces, these figures are winged and have often been identified as Etruscan lasas, nymph-like characters frequently depicted on engraved mirrors and pottery. The precise function of duck-askoi has been hotly debated. Many seem too large to have been used for expensive scented oils and instead may have contained lamp oil or olive oil. Because some earlier duck-askoi have been found with a special type of barrel-shaped vase, some scholars have suggested a connection with wine.

Askos in the form of a duck

Clusium Group

Terracotta duck-askos (flask with spout and handle)

ca. 350–325 BCE

Terracotta

Woman running with torch and phiale (libation bowl)

Lekythos

Berlin Painter

Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

ca. 480 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, victorious charioteer and the goddess Nike

Column-krater

Nausicaä Painter

Terracotta column-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)

2nd quarter of the 5th century BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, Theseus and the Minotaur

Amphora, Type B

Group E

Terracotta amphora (jar)

ca. 540 BCE

Terracotta

The herm is a type of monument that takes its name from Hermes, the messenger god, who was also the protector of travelers, communities and houses, entrances and exits, as well as flocks. Herms were typically set up along thoroughfares and boundaries, at gates, and also at tombs. The region of Arkadia was rich in herds of sheep and goats. It is likely that this exceptionally fine bronze was dedicated at a sanctuary of Hermes.

Herm

Bronze herm

ca. 490 BCE

Bronze

Inscribed on underside of bowl, within foot; re-curved loop handles.

Kylix

Silver kylix (drinking cup)

late 4th–mid 3rd century BCE

Silver

Obverse, Eros, Amymone, and Poseidon. Reverse, woman and two youths

Pelike

Dechter Painter

Terracotta pelike (jar)

ca. 360–340 BCE

Terracotta

Interior and exterior, Theseus in Poseidon's undersea palace and his arrival in Athens

Kylix

Briseis Painter

Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)

ca. 480 BCE

Terracotta

Centaur and bird, snake, and hare

Oinochoe

Andokides Painter

Terracotta oinochoe (jug)

ca. 530 BCE

Terracotta

Interior: woman.

Kylix

Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)

early 5th century BCE

Terracotta

One side, Hephaistos on a donkey accompanied by satyrs and maenads

Column-krater, fragments

Lydos

Two fragments of a terracotta column-krater

6th century BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, warrior and inscription: two obols—and hands off

Amphora, Type B

Group E

Terracotta amphora (jar)

ca. 550 BCE

Terracotta

Del Monte (1541–1614) was a mercenary soldier who at various times served the emperor, the pope, the kings of Spain and France, and the Venetian Republic. This armor dates from the period of del Monte’s service to Venice as captain-general of infantry. It probably was made in Brescia, an armor-making center then under Venetian control.

Armor

Armor of Giovanni Battista Bourbon del Monte (1541–1614)

ca. 1590

Steel, gold, textile, leather

This man wears a tunic and over it a toga, the most characteristic Roman dress. The toga, a length of woolen cloth with rounded edges, had been the traditional garment of the Romans for centuries, but by the late first century B.C., it was declining in popularity. As part of his effort to revive ancient values and customs, the emperor Augustus made the toga a sort of unofficial state dress that all citizens were required to wear in the forum. A cylindrical leather box for scrolls, represented at the feet of this figure, identify him as a man engaged in public business. A portrait head and arms were carved separately and added.

Statue of a man, togatus

Marble statue of a togatus (man wearing a toga)

1st century CE

Marble

On the body, Herakles and the Nemean Lion. On the shoulder, lions.

Hydria

Terracotta hydria (water jar)

2nd quarter of the 6th century BCE

Terracotta

Applied decoration: the infant Herakles strangling the snakes, amphora with a lid, Eros holding a torch

Cup

Terracotta cup with appliqués

ca. 150–100 BCE

Terracotta

Interior, seated Eros holding a mirror. The rondel is surrounded by a vine wreath. Exterior, A, seated Eros with a mirror approached by a running women holding a rosette chain and a wreath. B: woman seated on a rock holding a wreath and a phiale (libation bowl).

Lekane

Menzies Group

Terracotta lekanis (dish)

ca. 330–320 BCE

Terracotta

In this pastel and another of 1885–86 (Musée d'Orsay, Paris) Degas explored the expressive potential of a bather doubled-up, snail-like, drying her foot. The blue, yellow, and green harmonies in the two works are typical of many of his bather pastels, but the hues here are more high-keyed.

Drawing

Edgar Degas

Woman Drying Her Foot

1885–86

Pastel on buff wove paper, affixed to original pulpboard mount

The figures of men returning from a hunt on the bottom of this dish closely resemble ones on ivory and bone caskets of the period.

Dish fragment

Fragment of a Glass Dish

10th century

blue glass, silver stain

Interior, satyr with wineskin and drinking horn

Kylix

Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)

ca. 480–470 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, Herakles bringing the Erymanthian Boar to King Eurystheus

Neck-amphora

Antimenes Painter

Terracotta neck-amphora (jar)

ca. 520 BCE

Terracotta

Of the two versions of this composition in the Museum’s collection, this one is more freely executed, indicating that it was probably made second. Several of the figures in this pastel differ from those in

Drawing

Edgar Degas

The Rehearsal Onstage

ca. 1874

Pastel over brush-and-ink drawing on thin cream-colored wove paper, laid down on bristol board and mounted on canvas

Two friezes of hoplites to right.

Alabastron

Late Warrior Frieze Vases

Terracotta alabastron (perfume vase)

ca. 590–570 BCE

Terracotta

The motif of Nine Heroes drawn from Classical, Jewish, and Christian traditions was first mentioned in a French poem in 1312, and soon became a popular theme throughout art and literature in late medieval Europe. Pulled from both history and legend, Hector of Troy, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar represented the Heroes of the Classical era. Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabeus, from the Hebrew Bible and related accounts, constituted the Jewish Heroes. Finally, from medieval Europe, King Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon formed the Christian Heroes. Celebrated as perfect embodiments of chivalry, the Nine Heroes provided exemplars of worthy warriors and just leaders for men of the noble and upper classes.

Tapestry

King Arthur (from the Heroes Tapestries)

ca. 1400–1410

Wool warp, wool wefts

On the body, obverse, woman with attendant in naiskos (shrine) flanked by youth and women

Loutrophoros

Metope Painter

Terracotta loutrophoros (ceremonial vase for water)

3rd quarter of the 4th century BCE

Terracotta

Mary, Jesus’ mother, her head covered with a veil and her back to us, is almost lost in the crowd at center. Saint John gently places his hand at her back, protecting her from the clamor of men and horses. Close to the Cross, the Roman centurion Longinus touches his eye, which, according to the Golden Legend, was miraculously cured by blood and water that dripped from Jesus’ side.

Triptych

Miniature Altarpiece with the Crucifixion

early 16th century

Boxwood

This pastel is one of eighteen variants on the composition that Degas made in the late 1880s and early 1890s, a testament to his fascination with replicating and multiplying images. He also repeated forms within the scene: the model’s bent left leg closely echoes the shape and line of her extended arms.

Drawing

Edgar Degas

Woman Drying Her Arm

late 1880s–early 1890s

Pastel and charcoal on light pink wove paper, discolored at the edges

The glaze on Corinthian vases did not always fuse properly with the body of the vessel and has often peeled off. Only traces remain of the scene on the front of this krater, which shows the marriage of Paris and Helen. The bridal pair stands in a chariot ready to depart, surrounded by four Trojan couples wearing festive dress. A single, armed warrior at the far right leads in the four horsemen shown on the other side of the vase. The names of all the figures are inscribed beside them. Goats and panthers fill the zone below.

Column-krater

Detroit Painter

Terracotta column-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)

ca. 590–570 BCE

Terracotta

Degas undertook racing scenes throughout his career, characteristically manipulating his horses and jockeys from one picture to the next. All the figures here appear in earlier works, and some of the poses have pedigrees even more distinguished than the horses: the prancing mount and rider at the center derive from Benozzo Gozzoli's

Drawing

Edgar Degas

Race Horses

ca. 1885–88

Pastel on wood

Giovanni Francesco Susini’s artistic personality has taken shape only in recent years with studies of his formal influences, intellectual training, and technical development.[1] An artist of considerable originality, he carved lifesized marble figures and groups[2] and made highly successful statuettes of his own design.[3] In addition, he adapted more large-scale antiquities to bronze statuettes than any sculptor since Antico, a century earlier,[4] and continued his uncle Antonio’s practice of casting statuettes after Giambologna’s models. According to his earliest biographer, Filippo Baldinucci, Susini’s statuettes after antiquities were by far the highest valued of his small bronzes, selling for up to ten times the price of those after Giambologna’s models.[5] Within his oeuvre, the Hermaphrodite stands out as a masterpiece, fusing Susini’s creative and antiquarian impulses.

Statuette

Giovanni Francesco Susini

Hermaphrodite

1639

Bronze

Interior, archer leading horse

Kylix

Psiax

Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)

ca. 515 BCE

Terracotta

Isabelle Lemonnier was the daughter of a successful Parisian jeweler and the younger sister of Marguerite Charpentier, whose grand portrait by Renoir is also in the Metropolitan’s collection (07.122). Between 1879 and 1882 Manet made several portraits of Isabelle, of whom he seems to have been fond; in the summer of 1880 he sent her a series of letters decorated with charming watercolor sketches.

Drawing

Edouard Manet

Mademoiselle Isabelle Lemonnier (1857–1926)

1879–82

Pastel on canvas

David surmounts Goliath and, bracing one knee on his shoulder, pulls the giant’s head back by the hair as his sword arm stretches to its apogee for the death blow. Goliath is half-risen from the ground, mouth agape, eyes wide but unfocused, with the stone that felled him still “sunke into his forehead” (1 Samuel 17:49). The dynamic pyramidal group is known in only one comparable example, formerly in the Gustave de Rothschild collection, which was illustrated by Wilhelm von Bode and is sometimes confused with our bronze.[1] A smaller and more summary version in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow, represents a later generation of the model.[2] The composition has been attributed to Baccio Bandinelli and Vincenzo de’ Rossi, and more generally called Florentine from the decades around 1600.[3] Anthony Radcliffe first raised the possibility of a connection to Francesco Fanelli in the late 1980s, when the artist’s biography and oeuvre were coming into sharper focus, and Patricia Wengraf has since sustained the attribution and made persuasive comparisons with the Mercury and Cupid (cat. 92).[4]

Group

Francesco Fanelli

David and Goliath

17th century cast

Bronze

Ceramic house models may have been wedding gifts. This turquoise model’s open courtyard with pierced balustrade and corner roof projections suggests a vernacular building. A festive occasion is depicted, with seated personages holding cups and a couple dancing with raised arms. The role of the turbaned, bearded man on a high stepped stool—a figure who bears the conventional traits of older, wise, educated, or religious men—remains enigmatic.

House model

Model of a House with Festive Scene

12th–early 13th century

Stonepaste; molded, modeled, glazed in transparent turquoise

The precise meaning of this bristling elder remains to be determined. Suggestions for his identity have ranged from Aristotle to Moses to a retired pugilist. The work fits within the French academic tradition of modeling heads to express various passions, but which could this belligerent character personify? Barely controlled rage, perhaps, but what does the mantle connote? The ancient marbles that are most like the head in conveying crossness and contempt represent philosophers of the Cynic school, but they do not wear mantles. In the end perhaps the main subject is the model himself, no doubt an Italian; during and after his study years in Italy (1752-56), Pajou drew and modeled similar types, aged but vigorous, hirsute and ornery. Our head, carried out with canny asymmetrical adjust- ments of the clay, is the most mesmeriz- ing of these exercises. Unrecorded until it was auctioned last year in Paris, it was totally unknown to the authors of the Museum's 1998 "Augustin Pajou" exhibition but will figure in next year's "Playing with Fire: European Terracotta Models, 1740 to 1840."

Bust

Augustin Pajou

Head of a Bearded Elder

1768

.1Terracotta on a bleu turquin marble socle

This glass mouse demonstrates the talent of a Persian glass-blower, who would have taken great pains to carefully produce the anatomical details of this life-sized creature. These types of whimsical forms were admired for their graceful shapes and bright colors, and decoratively displayed within niches of private and public buildings in Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz.

Figure

Figure of a Mouse in Deep Blue Glass

probably 19th century

Glass; mold-blown with applied decoration

Flowering plants, especially favored by Mughal artists, frequently appear in carpets. Here, the drawing of the flowers and the shading of the leaves are rendered with great care and as naturalistically as possible. Yet nature is disregarded when two unrelated flowers grow from the same stem.

Carpet

Carpet with Irises, Tulips, and Other Flowering Plants

ca. 1650

Cotton (warp and weft); wool (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile

This carpet represents the highest level of production—imperial grade—made with an extremely fine weave and costly materials. It looks and feels like velvet, but the pile is actually pashmina wool, made from the fleece of Himalayan mountain goats. Its decorative style, with its floral forms, is typical of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s taste, seen also in the architectural ornament and manuscript illumination produced during his reign. These fragments constitute about one quarter of the original carpet, which was over twenty-three feet long, an enormous size for a carpet of this quality.

Carpet fragments

Fragments of a Carpet with Lattice and Blossom Pattern

ca. 1650

Silk (warp and weft), pashmina wool (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile

Riccio, the artistic voice of the High Renaissance in Padua, specialized in bronze. In the course of composing the monument that was his masterwork, the Paschal Candlestick of 1507–16 in the Basilica of Sant'Antonio, he brought superlative technique and a familiarity with classical motifs to a host of bronze statuettes and decorative utensils. This lamp, cast by the lost-wax method, takes the shape of an ancient galleon whose decoration combines imagery from land and sea. Riccio rotated his wax model on a stock, using a wooden tool to bestow deft, delicate touches to the arrangement of arcs responding to arcs that occupies space so commandingly. The metal shows few signs of tooling after the casting. The two tapered friezes on either side display children sporting with rams, and a large bearded mask terminates the lid above the vessel's stern.

Oil lamp

Andrea Briosco, called Riccio

Rothschild lamp

ca. 1510–20

Bronze, on a later wood base

In the medallions decorating this candlestick sits a ruler on a lion‑throne with harpies and attendants, and figures holding a crescent personifying the Moon. Arabic inscriptions around the base and neck wish the owner well and list his princely titles, reinforcing the themes of royal authority and prosperity conveyed in the imagery.

Candlestick

Candlestick

late 13th–first half 14th century

Brass; inlaid with silver, gold, and black compound

In a legendary contest over divine beauty the Trojan prince, Paris judged Venus the winner. Paris is shown contemplating his choice as he holds the golden apple to be awarded to the goddess as her trophy. The figure’s immaculate nudity, gilded hair, and silver eyes vividly evoke the splendor of classical bronze statuettes.

Statuette

Antico (Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi)

Paris

ca. 1518–1524

Bronze, partially fire-gilt, silver inlay

Late Antique and Byzantine pyxides generally had flat lids, but the lids covering the cylindrical vessels of this Andalusian group are all domical. Thus, the missing lid of this example would probably have been domical as well. Made principally for the personal use of Umayyad nobility, these containers held precious aromatics and cosmetics.

Box

Cylindrical Box (Pyxis)

10th century

Ivory; carved

Hercules’ fourth Labor was to drag before King Eurystheus a wild boar that had been wreaking devastation around Mount Erymanthus. This spirited composition divulges some of Lespingola’s experiences in Italy between 1672 and 1675. The figure of Hercules is poised to fling the beast in the same way David is ready to sling his shot at Goliath in the marble masterpiece by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1623–24; Galleria Borghese, Rome). Presumably Lespingola got to know the dramatic bronze groups invented by Massimiliano Soldani and Giovanni Battista Foggini in Florence. His are ruggedly textured, their reddish metal having been lightly peened all over to produce

Statuette group

François Lespingola

Hercules Delivering the Erymanthean Boar to Eurystheus

last quarter 17th century

Bronze

From hence we went forward to Belle Vue, the finest Situation I have hitherto seen in France—the House perfectly elegant;—it was inhabited by Madame de Pompadour it seems, when in the plenitude of her Power.

Bedside table

Bernard II van Risenburgh

Bedside table (table de nuit)

ca. 1750–56

Oak veneered with tulipwood and kingwood; gilt-bronze mounts; Sarrancolin marble; silk moiré drawer lining (not original)

Under the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals, steel or silver standards were used in military, royal, and religious ceremonies. The talismanic power of this standard ('alam) is understood through the choice of the inscriptions. On one side, in the centermost circle, the Shi'i prayer venerates the Prophet Muhammad's family through his cousin and son-in-law 'Ali, his wife Fatima, and their sons Hasan and Husain, supported by the protective Throne verse (2:255). The other side honors the twelve imams, with the name of the twelfth imam enclosed in the central circle. As for the fingers, they are incomplete and display a combination of Qur'anic verses and popular Shi'i invocations. The power of the names of these religious figures, the Qur'anic verses, and the Shi'i prayers endow this standard with its amuletic properties.

Standard

Standard

early 18th century

Silver with black inlay

This intricately carved tile exhibits a distinctive curving arched shape that identifies it as a muqarnas element. A muqarnas is a stalactite‑like form that often adorns the interior curves of domes, niches, and portals of Islamic buildings. The precise origin of this tile remains unknown, although it is similar to tiles used at the Shah‑i Zinda funerary complex in Samarqand.

Tile

Tile from a Squinch

second half 14th century

Stonepaste; carved and glazed

This group is the sculptor's working model for one of two monumental stone sculptures completed in 1870 and still in the garden of the palace at Fontainbleau. Like Venus, the companion sculpture, Jupiter has no precedent in antique iconography and is apparently the original product of Préault's deeply Romantic imagination.

Group

Auguste Préault

Jupiter and the Sphinx

1868

Tinted plaster

Like much of the sculpture of the Romantic movement in French art, Préault's work was rejected from the Paris Salons throughout the 1830s and 1840s. Official recognition came after the Revolution of 1848. This plaster group is the working model for the commission of 1867 for the imperial palace at Fontainbleau.

Group

Auguste Préault

Venus and the Sphinx

1868

Tinted plaster

Rodin intended Eve and the towering Adam to flank his monumental bronze doorway, The Gates of Hell. There, the biblical progenitors of humanity would have stood as perpetual witnesses to the consequences of their sin—bodily death and the damnation of souls. As an independent sculpture, Eve is a physical manifesto of remorse; her body twisted in suffering, her face imprisoned within a gesture of anguish. The bronze casts of Adam and Eve were commissioned for The Met in 1910 from plaster models in the sculptor’s studio.

Statue

Auguste Rodin

Eve

modeled 1881, cast 1910

Bronze

Degas’s interest in the motif of a nude entering the water apparently dates to his student days, when he copied the figure of a man scrambling over a riverbank from an engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi after Michelangelo. This is one of seven pastels in which Degas ventured a modern version of the subject. The woman, her arms and legs splayed precariously against a zinc bathtub, powerfully manifests the combination of physical awkwardness and sensuality that characterizes the artist’s depictions of bathers.

Drawing

Edgar Degas

Bather Stepping into a Tub

ca. 1890

Pastel and charcoal on blue laid paper, mounted at perimeter on backing board

Upper zone, uncertain scene: chariot surrounded by men and women

Squat lekythos

Eretria Painter

Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

ca. 420 BCE

Terracotta

Degas used his fingers, brushes, and sharp implements to smudge, scrape, and polish this pastel, creating a sense of movement and texture, and revealing layers of brilliant color. Black outlines drawn over the pastel emphasize the contrapposto turn of the muscular and monumental nude. The date Degas inscribed on the sheet has traditionally been read as 1894 but 1898 is more likely.

Drawing

Edgar Degas

Woman with a Towel

1894 or 1898

Pastel on cream-colored wove paper with red and blue fibers throughout

In 628–29 the Byzantine emperor Herakleios (r. 610–41) successfully ended a long, costly war with Persia and regained Jerusalem, Egypt, and other Byzantine territory. Silver stamps dating to 613–29/30 on the reverse of these masterpieces place their manufacture in Herakleios’s reign. The biblical figures on the plates wear the costume of the early Byzantine court, suggesting to the viewer that, like Saul and David, the Byzantine emperor was a ruler chosen by God. Elaborate dishes used for display at banquets were common in the late Roman and early Byzantine world; generally decorated with classical themes, these objects conveyed wealth, social status, and learning. This set of silver plates may be the earliest surviving example of the use of biblical scenes for such displays. Their intended arrangement may have closely followed the biblical order of the events, and their display may have conformed to the shape of a Christogram, or monogram for the name of Christ.

Plate

Plate with the Presentation of David to Saul

629–630

Silver

Obverse, Herakles and Triton

Neck-amphora

Medea Group

Terracotta neck-amphora (jar)

ca. 520 BCE

Terracotta

As a young man, Redon was fascinated with Darwinian biology and enjoyed a close friendship with Armand Clavaud, the curator of the botanical gardens in his hometown of Bordeaux. In late floral still lifes such as this one, the artist demonstrated a naturalist’s sense of wonder as well as a richly inventive imagination, combining many different types of blooms and foliage in an effervescent display, attended by fluttering butterflies. The vase, which appears in a number of Redon's flower pictures, was made and presented to him by the ceramicist Marie Botkin around 1900.

Drawing

Odilon Redon

Bouquet of Flowers

ca. 1900–1905

Pastel on paper

Mahmud 'Abd al-Baqi (1526/27–1600) was a Turkish judge and poet whose most important work is his

Folio from an illustrated manuscript

Mahmud 'Abd-al Baqi

"The Great Abu Sa'ud Teaching Law", Folio from a Divan of Mahmud `Abd-al Baqi

mid-16th century

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

This tureen and stand comprise one of twenty-two such tureens in the most extensive silver service of the second half of the eighteenth century, numbering more than 3,000 items. Catherine the Great commissioned it to be "made in the latest fashion" in Paris. The empress was concerned with the smallest details of the design and production. The sculptor Étienne-Maurice Falconet, who had been instrumental in introducing the Neoclassical style to the Sèvres porcelain factory, advised on stylistic matters and may have been responsible for some of the drawings, whereas imperial Russian agents periodically supervised the execution at the various workshops involved in filling this large order.

Tureen with cover and stand

Jacques-Nicolas Roettiers

Tureen with cover and stand

1770–71

Silver

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Liqueur bottle cooler

Sèvres Manufactory

Liqueur bottle cooler (seau ovale à liqueur) (one of a pair) (part of a service)

1771

Soft-paste porcelain decorated in polychrome enamels, gold

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Stand with jam pots

Sèvres Manufactory

Stand with jam pots (plateau à deux pots de confiture) (one of a pair) (part of a service)

1772

Soft-paste porcelain

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Stand

Sèvres Manufactory

Stand for ice-cream cup (plateau Bouret) (one of four) (part of a service)

1771

Soft-paste porcelain

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Plate

Sèvres Manufactory

Plate (assiette à palmes) (one of four) (part of a service)

1771

Soft-paste porcelain

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Liqueur bottle cooler

Sèvres Manufactory

Liqueur bottle cooler (seau ovale à liqueur) (one of a pair) (part of a service)

1772

Soft-paste porcelain

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Ice cream cup

Sèvres Manufactory

Ice cream cup (tasse à glace) (one of a pair) (part of a service)

1771–72

Soft-paste porcelain

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Plate

Sèvres Manufactory

Plate (assiette à palmes) (one of four) (part of a service)

1771

Soft-paste porcelain

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Plate

Sèvres Manufactory

Plate (assiette à palmes) (one of four) (part of a service)

1771

Soft-paste porcelain

This remarkable Sèvres porcelain elephant-head vase is one of six in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, four of which were given by Charles and Jayne Wrightsman (see 1983.185.9 and 1983.185.10, .11). Presumably due to the technical challenges and cost of making these vases, relatively few were produced at Sèvres, all of which date to the years around 1760; nineteen examples are known in public collections today.

Vase

Sèvres Manufactory

Elephant-head vase (vase à tête d'éléphant)

1758–62

Soft-paste porcelain

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Sugar bowl

Sèvres Manufactory

Sugar bowl with cover (sucrier de Monsieur le Premier) (one of a pair) (part of a service)

1772

Soft-paste porcelain

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Plate

Sèvres Manufactory

Plate (assiette à palmes) (one of four) (part of a service)

1771

Soft-paste porcelain

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Stand with jam pots

Sèvres Manufactory

Stand with jam pots (plateau à deux pots de confiture) (one of a pair) (part of a service)

ca. 1771–72

Soft-paste porcelain

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Stand

Sèvres Manufactory

Stand for ice-cream cups (plateau Bourets) (one of four) (part of a service)

1771

Soft-paste porcelain

The table services produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century were highly prized and extremely expensive. They were not only purchased by the Crown and members of the aristocracy but also given by the king as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts and visiting dignitaries, and the esteem in which they were held did much to enhance the factory’s prestige and fortunes. Because the number of pieces composing a service was very large, the cost was enormous, but this did not deter many courtiers from ordering a dinner or dessert service, or both.

Fruit dish

Sèvres Manufactory

Fruit dish (compotier coquille) (one of a pair) (part of a service)

1771

Soft-paste porcelain