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6066.txt | Plate
1830–45
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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591780.txt | Worker Shabti of Henettawy (C), Daughter of Isetemkheb
Third Intermediate Period
ca. 990–970 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 126
See 25.3.19.
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14521.txt | Beauty Revealed
Sarah Goodridge
American
1828
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 754
According to descendants of the statesman Daniel Webster (1782-1852), this miniature is a self-portrait Goodridge made for him.
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245952.txt | Gold earring with filigree decoration
Etruscan
5th–4th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 170
Hollow gold, with filigree decoration.
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289.txt | Furniture Hardware
Retailer
Henry Kellam Hancock
1820–30
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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6072.txt | Plate
American
1830–45
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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591794.txt | Worker Shabti of Henettawy (C), Daughter of Isetemkheb
Third Intermediate Period
ca. 990–970 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 126
See 25.3.19.
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244494.txt | Shallow bronze bowl
Cypriot
7th–6th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Attached around the lip are solid-cast spools. Since they are not perforated, their function seems to have been primarily decorative.
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236764.txt | Necklace with cameo of Veronica's Veil
Firm of
Castellani
ca. 1870
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 556
This object and the group to which it belongs (see also 2014.713.1–.10) reflect the keen interest in historical styles in nineteenth-century Europe. Artists and designers looked to various artistic periods for forms and motifs. There was also an interest in reproducing works of art from earlier epochs with historical accuracy—an approach that is particularly evident in the taste for so-called archaeological jewelry (jewelry based on excavated examples from antiquity), which reached its zenith in the middle of the century.
The jewelry made during this period encompassed Etruscan, ancient Roman, early Christian, Byzantine, and medieval styles. The firm of Castellani in Rome both pioneered and dominated the production of archaeological jewelry. Founded by Fortunato Pio Castellani in 1814, the company was run by three generations of the family before closing in 1927. Castellani jewelry achieved enormous popularity in the highest circles of European society, and its success encouraged many jewelers to work in a similar hisotiricizing vein, including Carlo Giuliano and his son Arthur, who established a successful firm in London in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
The fashion for works of art that evoked antiquity ensured the popularity of cameos. Carved from hardstones such as onyx, sardonyx, and agate, cameos depicting subjects from ancient Greece or Rome or portraits executed in silhouette were often mounted in gold as jewelry. The most proficient cameo carvers, such as Benedetto Pistrucci and Luigi Saulini, produced works of remarkable technical skill. Their cameos were set in specially designed mounts by jewelers such as the Castellani, resulting in some of the finest decorative works of art of the nineteenth century.
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2214.txt | Compote
Richards and Hartley Flint Glass Co.
American
ca. 1888
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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546972.txt | Bottle-necked jar
Middle Kingdom–Second Intermediate Period
ca. 2030–1550 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 114
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816514.txt | Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
Orsola Maddalena Caccia
Italian
ca. 1645
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 620
Caccia’s training with her father, Guglielmo Caccia, is encapsulated in this painting: she has employed a figure type close to his, composed of geometric forms and sfumato flesh achieved through smoothly blended paint without abrupt outlines. The still-life elements, especially the flowers, are trademarks of her own invention. She meticulously individuated them, sprinkling them across the foreground in the manner of her more celebrated independent still lifes, two of which are in The Met collection. After her training, Caccia spent the majority of her career running a successful studio in the Ursuline convent in Moncalvo, which was founded by her father in part to house his six daughters.
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558594.txt | Papyrus Lid from the Embalming Cache of Tutankhamun
New Kingdom
ca. 1336–1327 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 122
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246283.txt | Statuette of a woman ?
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
With arms lowered.
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559852.txt | Scarab Inscribed for the Female Horus Wosretkau (Hatshepsut)
New Kingdom
ca. 1479–1458 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 116
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902213.txt | Sacred Verse (Gāthā) from the Sutra of Buddhist Teachings (Hokku-gyō)
Zekkai Chūshin
Japanese
ca. 1380s–1405
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 224
Characterized by fluent ligatures, this striking one-column calligraphy (ichigyō mono) was executed by Zekkai Chūshin, a Rinzai Zen monk. After serving the monk Musō Soseki (1275–1351) at a young age, he traveled to China to study at the most prominent monasteries. This inscription serves as a simple yet poignant reminder of the Buddha’s teachings. The choice of this phrase—from a dialogue of the early ninth century between the reclusive monk Niaoke Daolin and the poet Bai Juyi introducing the basic principles of Buddhism—suggests that the work was created for a lay patron:
諸悪莫作 衆善奉行
Refrain from all evil.
Practice all that is good.
–Adapted from Jonathan Chaves
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4665.txt | Ladle
Richard Humphreys
American
1775–1800
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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548787.txt | Block of Wood
New Kingdom
ca. 1479–1458 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 116
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197112.txt | Christ Bearing the Cross
Enameler
Jean II Pénicaud
French
After a medal by
Valerio Belli (Il Vicentino)
mid-16th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 544
The design is after a bronze medal by the Italian Valerio Belli (ca. 1468–1546), copied from an engraved rock-crystal plaque by the same artist that is now in the collection of the Vatican Museums.
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19777.txt | Dressing glass
George A. Schastey & Co.
American
George A. Schastey
American, born Germany
1881–82
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 742
In 1881, Arabella Worsham, then-mistress of railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington, hired George A. Schastey & Co. to decorate her townhouse at 4 West Fifty-Fourth Street in New York City. The resulting artistic interiors would have been considered the height of cosmopolitan style in the early 1880s and were emblematic of Worsham’s quest to fashion her identity as a wealthy, prominent woman of taste. When Worsham married Huntington in 1884, she sold the house, fully furnished, to John D. and Laura Spelman Rockefeller, who made few subsequent changes to the decorations. Following Mr. Rockefeller’s death, the house was demolished in 1938, yet some furnishings, large-scale architectural elements, and three interiors were preserved, and the rooms were donated to local museums by John D. Rockefeller Jr.
This dressing glass of satinwood and purpleheart is part of the suite (2009.226.1–.4) that furnished Worsham’s elaborately decorated dressing room, one of the preserved interiors now installed in The American Wing (Gallery 742). These objects were part of a decorative program that encompassed every aspect of the room, including the architectural woodwork, lighting, stenciled wall-treatment, painted ceiling and frieze, textiles, and other furnishings. The carved putti finials and marquetry ornament on the delicate dressing glass recall ornamental motifs in the architectural woodwork.
Although few objects can be attributed to George A. Schastey & Co., the high quality of their work – as seen in this fine example – was comparable to other prominent firms of the Gilded Age, including Herter Brothers and Pottier & Stymus. At its peak in the early 1880s, the firm employed at least 125 people in its workshops. Their distinctive designs are steeped in Renaissance sources with flourishes from the Islamic world and the British design reform movement.
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4103.txt | Goblet
American
1830–70
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
With the development of new formulas and techniques, glass-pressing technology had improved markedly by the late 1840s. By this time, pressed tablewares were being produced in large matching sets and innumerable forms. During the mid-1850s, colorless glass and simple geometric patterns dominated. Catering to the demand for moderately-priced dining wares, the glass industry in the United States expanded widely, and numerous factories supplied less expensive pressed glassware to the growing market. At the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations at New York’s Crystal Palace in 1853, for example, the New England Glass Company exhibited 130 pieces of one design, "consisting of bowls, tumblers, champagnes, wines, and jelly glasses." This object belongs to one such service. Although the glass manufactory is not known, the glassware is very typical of the large services that were very popular with America’s middle class in the nineteenth century.
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251099.txt | Terracotta calyx-krater (mixing bowl)
Attributed to the
Amykos Painter
ca. 430–400 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 162
Obverse, four warriors fighting
Reverse, four youths
This vase well illustrates the complex interrelation between Greek art and artists in Southern Italy and the indigenous populations. In its shape and ornament, the krater has not evolved far beyond its Athenian models. The combat, by contrast, shows warriors with their native helmets in poses that emphasize individual movement rather than compositional rigor.
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26587.txt | Pair of Double-Barreled Flintlock Pistols
Gunsmith
François-Alexander Chasteau
French
1752–53
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 375
Pistols with side-by-side barrels became popular in England and France in the second half of the eighteenth century. This luxuriously decorated French pair exhibits the fashionable Rococo taste for asymmetry and whimsy in its elaborate parcel-gilt silver mounts and silver-wire inlay.
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577211.txt | Arrow Point
Late Period
664–525 BC
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 130
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240194.txt | Terracotta jug
Cypriot
ca. 750–600 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Horizontal and vertical circles; strainer in mouth.
Cypriot strainer vases probably were influenced by Phoenician examples. They may have been used to strain herb-infused liquids, thus leaving the herbs in the jug.
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550876.txt | Inlay, hieroglyph
Late Period, Saite
664–610 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 127
A quantity of faience hieroglyphs and border elements was found in the tomb or courtyard of Nespekashuty. These are displayed in galleries 127 and 130. They are of similar size and manufacture, so seem to have belonged to a single object, likely of wood. Some of the signs belong to the standard offering formula, others mention Osiris and Anubis, so they certainly suggest an item of funerary furniture - a box, a screen, or a coffin although coffins are not usually inlaid in faience and remnants of Nespekashuty's were painted.
Unfortunately, there are no signs indisputably pointing to Nespekashuty's names or titles. Although it seems likely that the fairly elaborate piece of equipment to which they testify belonged to the main burial of this tomb, and not to the Third Intermediate Period burials found in the courtyard or to the material apparently cleared from the Hathor Shrine at Deir el Bahri or to the other sets of late shabtis found in the vicinity of the tomb, it cannot be proven that they belong to Nespekashuty's equipment. Possibly the ongoing reexcavation of Kushite and Saite tombs in the Theban necropolis and also in the Saqqara area will eventually provide a better understanding of what kind of funerary equipment supplied the burials of the period, providing better context for these inlays.
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10035.txt | Pasture at Evening
Formerly attributed to
Albert Pinkham Ryder
American
1912–32
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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199659.txt | Vitellius tazza
Flemish, Antwerp (?)
ca. 1587–99, foot added after mid-19th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 520
Before beginning to chase the low-relief scenes on the tazze, each goldsmith would work out his composition on paper. He then transferred the design to the dish by pricking: with the paper pressed against the surface, he used a pointed tool to prick tiny dots along the outlines of the composition, punching through the paper and into the silver. In the third scene of this tazza, these marks are still visible in the contours of the architecture and landscape, especially in the lines of the riverbank.
Scene one
1
Vitellius is hailed as emperor by his soldiers (although Galba still rules in Rome) (A.D. 69)
2
The soldiers carry Vitellius around the villages. He brandishes a sword, which once belonged to Julius Caesar, given to him in honor of his new role
Scene two
1
During the civil war that commences after Otho murders Galba (A.D. 69), Vitellius divides his forces into two
2
The troops sent to challenge Otho receive a good omen: an eagle flies slowly in front of them
Scene three
1
Vitellius receives another omen: a rooster lands on his shoulder and then stands on his head while he is giving legal judgments at a tribunal in Vienna
Scene four
1
Vitellius enters Rome, dressed in a military uniform and surrounded by his men (A.D. 69)
2
He is greeted by the sound of trumpets played in his honor
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435988.txt | Ville-d'Avray
Camille Corot
French
1870
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 803
Corot often painted views of the large pond on the property he had inherited from his parents at Ville-d'Avray. In repeating the scene, he took certain liberties, especially with the tree just left of center. The silhouette of branches and foliage against the pewter sky led Corot's biographer Alfred Robaut to liken this work to a spider's web. Corot initially included a child with outstretched arms beside the crouching peasant woman, but he seems to have found this detail too anecdotal. Critics admired the calm poetry of this composition when it was first exhibited at the 1870 Salon.
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34183.txt | Pair of Snaphaunce Pistols
Gunsmith
Matteo Cecchi, called Acquafresca
Italian
Barrelsmith
Giovan Battista Francino
Italian
ca. 1690
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 375
Acquafresca was one of the most talented Italian gunmakers of all time. His mastery of relief-chiseled and engraved steel was unsurpassed. Although he worked in the isolated hamlet of Bargi, near Bologna, he was well aware of international firearms fashion, including gunmakers' pattern books published in Paris. He had a sophisticated clientele, among them the ruling Medici family of Florence.
These pistols are among Acquafresca's best preserved and most original works. The black ebony stocks contrast with the bright steel mounts and silver wire inlay. The facing male and female heads on chiseled steel plaques set into the grips, behind the barrel, perhaps allude to the gunmaker's noble patrons. The silver wire ornament on each pistol is distinctly different. The barrels are inscribed prominently with Acquafresca's name.
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6714.txt | Porringer
Paul Revere Jr.
American
1750–1800
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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471112.txt | Roundel with Daniel Slaying the Dragon
Style of
Pseudo-Ortkens
South Netherlandish
ca. 1520
On view at The Met Cloisters in
Gallery 10
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544803.txt | Shen amulet of Reniseneb
Middle Kingdom
ca. 1810–1700 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 111
This carnelian and gold shen amulet was found near the neck of Reniseneb's mummy along with a necklace of obsidian and gold (26.7.1349). Also on the mummy were a faience hippopotamus (26.7.898) and a mirror with an ebony handle decorated with gold inlay (26.7.1351) that records his name and the judicial title "Great One of the Southern Tens." Reniseneb's mummy also had a mask with a gilded face. Although Reniseneb was buried with only a few grave goods, the quality of these objects and the materials used indicate that he was a prosperous man of some importance.
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42015.txt | Scepter (ruyi) with gourds and vines
China
late 18th–early 19th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 219
Used as a display item, this scepter takes the shape of a fungus known as a ruyi, a rebus for "as your wish."
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22939.txt | Smallsword
Western European, probably Naples
ca. 1720
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 376
By the early seventeenth century, the rapier, a long slender thrusting sword, began to dominate as the gentleman’s weapon of choice. During the course of the century, however, as civilian fencing techniques became more specialized and refined, the rapier developed into a lighter, trimmed-down weapon known by about 1700 as the smallsword. Smallswords, often richly decorated, remained an integral part of a gentleman’s wardrobe until the wearing of swords in civilian settings went out of fashion at the end of the eighteenth century, at which time pistols were replacing swords as arms most frequently used in personal duels. The majority of smallsword hilts are made of silver or steel, but many also employ a wide variety of luxurious materials, such as gold, porcelain, and enamel. At their best, smallswords combine the crafts of swordsmith, cutler, and jeweler to create an elegant weapon that was also a wearable work of art.
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436259.txt | Study Head of a Young Woman
Anthony van Dyck
Flemish
ca. 1618–20
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 639
Study heads of this type were painted by Van Dyck using live models, whose features were then repeated in finished pictures, usually of religious subjects. For example, this sketch served as the prototype for a likeness of the Virgin Mary in a depiction of the Holy Family. The iconography of the melancholy young woman with long hair streaming down her shoulders also suits images of Mary Magdalen. Intriguingly, an early biographer tells us that Van Dyck once depicted his sister Susanna in that guise.
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252590.txt | Terracotta lydion (perfume jar)
Lydian
6th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 152
Great numbers of these jars have been found at Sardis as well as around the Mediterranean. Because they seem to have been a specialty of Lydia, modern scholars call this type of vase a lydion. Such jars probably contained bakkaris, a perfume for which Sardis was noted in antiquity.
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8739.txt | Tongs
Joel Sayre
American
John Sayre
1800–1810
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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255214.txt | Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)
Attributed to the manner of the
Sappho Painter
ca. 500–490 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Herakles and Apollo contesting the Delphic tripod, with Artemis and Athena
A favored subject during the third quarter of the sixth century B.C. was the struggle between Herakles and Apollo for the Delphic tripod. The most significant depiction in the Museum's collection appears on a very early red-figure amphora of about 530 B.C. signed by the potter Andokides; it is exhibited in the Greek galleries on the main floor. The lekythos shows a simpler variant of the same subject, complete with the inclusion of white slip, here limited to the shoulder.
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329863.txt | Head of a King with a Nemes Headdress
Late Period or Ptolemaic Period
ca. 4th–3rd century B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 134
Small Late Period and Ptolemaic reliefs or sculptures that depict a subject in a partial or unfinished way but are themselves finished objects constitute a special class of object. Guidelines like those for artists are often prominently exhibited as part of the object, although, in fact, many instances can be noted where the object simply could not serve as a suitable model for a traditional formal Egyptian representation. Personifications of kingship, figures that may represent the now emerging demigods Imhotep and Amenhotep Son of Hapu, and popular gods like Harpokrates or Isis, are heavily represented within the corpus.
Taken together, the figures represented and the other features indicate the reliefs and sculptures of this class, sometimes called by Egyptologists "sculptor’s models / votives," were the material of a donation practice, perhaps connected with the prolific temple building of these centuries. Unfortunately there is little to illuminate us about the mechanics of such a donation practice.
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6927.txt | Salad Plate
Union Porcelain Works
American
1885–87
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
Union Porcelain Works was one of the most important and inventive American porcelain manufacturers in the second-half of the nineteenth century. In addition to their imaginative works designed by the German-born artistic director, Karl H. L. Müller, the firm’s mainstay was the production of heavy porcelain hotel dinnerware. This extensive service was made by Thomas Carll Smith, head of the Union Porcelain Works, as a gift to his daughter, Pastora Forest Smith Chace. The neoclassical decoration of the gilt bellflower and basket motif is complimented by turquoise enamel. Unlike the firm’s more eccentric and lavish designs created for their display at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, the pottery favored a more restrained classical style for their dinner services. This service descended in the Chace family.
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591019.txt | Worker Shabti of Henettawy (C), Daughter of Isetemkheb
Third Intermediate Period
ca. 990–970 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 126
See 25.3.19.
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467943.txt | Hunting for Wild Boar (from the Hunting Parks Tapestries)
South Netherlandish
ca. 1515–35
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 305
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326588.txt | Openwork rattle bell
Iran
ca. 9th–8th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 684
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253665.txt | Chalcedony scaraboid seal
Greek, Ionian
ca. 450–400 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Ram.
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552052.txt | Relief of an Acacia Tree Shading Water Jars with Drinking Cups
Middle Kingdom
ca. 2051–2030 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 104
In this picturesque image of water jars beneath an acacia tree, each jar for ready use topped by a drinking cup, there may be hidden allusions to beliefs about the afterlife. In the Old Kingdom, an institution called “the acacia house” was maintained at the solar cult site of Heliopolis (near present day Cairo). To this institution belonged a group of women who served as mourners and ritual dancers at each pharaoh’s funeral. Queen Neferu may have been a member of Mentuhotep II’s acacia house.
For other reliefs of Neferu, see 26.3.353* and 31.3.1.
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449466.txt | Pendant
11th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 453
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504.txt | Bentwood Side Chair
Henry I. Seymour
American
1870–78
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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205423.txt | Dog kennel
Claude I Sené
French
ca. 1775–80
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 526
Claude I Sené’s talents as a chair maker were not limited to seat furniture for humans (see also Gallery 541). Among one of the most charming pieces in the Wrightsman collection is this niche de chien created for Marie-Antoinette. Considered a part of domestic furnishings, dog kennels were typically comprised of a small case or basket open on one or two sides to allow the dog to enter. More elaborate models resembled diminutive canopied beds or tabouret-shaped chairs with a recessed niche below. The Wrightsman’s example is constructed from gilded beech and pine and covered with luxurious velvet. The interior is lined in a striped blue and beige silk. The usage of acanthus leaves and Greek keys throughout comprise popular Neoclassical motifs fashionable in France at the end of the eighteenth century. Marie-Antoinette, like Madame de Pompadour before her, was a lover of canines. Her pets seemed to return the affection: tradition has it that her beloved dog Coco followed her mistress to her imprisonment at the Temple during the French Revolution.
References:
Nicole de Reyniès, Mobilier domestique: Vocabulaire typologique. Paris: Centre des monuments nationaux, Éditions du patrimonie, 2003, vol. 2, 944–5.
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27672.txt | Left Half of a Breastplate
Italian
ca. 1400–1450
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 373
This is part of a large find of medieval armor discovered in 1840 in the ruins of the fortress of Chalcis, on the Greek island of Euboea (then a Venetian colony called Negroponte). The fortress had been captured and destroyed by the Turks in 1470. Now divided largely between the Ethnological Museum, Athens, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Chalcis hoard contains many rare and unusual elements of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century armor. Of particular importance are the variety of headpieces and the many fragments of brigandines (armor for the torso constructed of small plates riveted to layers of fabric), some of which retain portions of their original velvet covering. The Chalcis armor provides a unique picture of the armament used in the Aegean, one of the easternmost military outposts of the Venetian empire.
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559107.txt | Mold for a Scarab
New Kingdom
ca. 1390–1352 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 120
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2599.txt | Cream Jug
British, probably
1780–1825
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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209219.txt | Lantern clock
British
ca. 1685
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 711
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435963.txt | Bacchante by the Sea
Camille Corot
French
1865
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 803
This cabinet picture was almost certainly created to satisfy the growing market for Corot’s figure paintings in the 1860s. The figure lies on a leopard or tiger skin; the accessory is responsible for the nymph’s traditional identification as a follower of the Roman god of wine, Bacchus.
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248523.txt | Terracotta rim fragment with incised lines and punctations
Cretan
ca. 3600–3100 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
From Knossos, Crete
Fragment of a rim, gray ware, decorated with incised lines and punctured dots.
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549314.txt | Inscribed Rectangular Plaque
New Kingdom, Ramesside
ca. 1153–1147 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 122
This rectangular plaque bears the name of Ramesses IV who initiated several building projects and sent large expeditions to mining regions and quarries early on in his reign. His plans and ambitions were cut short by his death in the sixth year of his reign, but he had been able to complete and decorate his tomb in the Valley of the Kings. He also began work on a gigantic processional temple in Thebes, in which a number of intact foundation deposit were found with literally hundreds of plaques and other objects inscribed with his names, like this plaque here.
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37461.txt | Dish with Peony Design
Thailand (Si Satchanalai)
14th–ca. mid-16th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 250
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247610.txt | Fragment of a terracotta kylix (drinking cup)
Attributed to the
Foundry Painter
ca. 480–470 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Athletes and trainer
The fragment has been augmented by L. 1986.41, lent by the Monumenti, Musei e Gallerie Pontificie and L.1986.91, lent by the Archäologisches Institut der Universität Heidelberg.
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546027.txt | Nine Shell Jewelry Elements
Second Intermediate Period
ca. 1648–1540 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 111
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625504.txt | Worker Shabti of Henettawy (C), Daughter of Isetemkheb
Third Intermediate Period
ca. 990–970 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 126
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251072.txt | Carnelian ring stone
Roman
1st century BCE–3rd century CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Priam begging Achilles for Hector's body.
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570595.txt | High relief inlay fragment, frontal bust of a god in a feather garment and holding a scepter
Ptolemaic Period–Roman Period
200 BC–100 AD
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 134
Monochrome blue glass has been fused with three patterns of mosaic glass: twisted blue and yellow form a staff, another pattern forms a broad collar, and a feather pattern represents a god's garment..
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241261.txt | Terracotta comic figurine
Cypriot
late 4th–3rd century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
The figurine seems to represent an old man. He has a hunched posture and bent knees. His thin lower legs are joined with a panel of clay.
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207234.txt | Snuffbox in the form of a rat
Manufactory
Meissen Manufactory
German
ca. 1745
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 538
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750831.txt | Cabinet
Maison Barbedienne
French
Designed by
Louis-Constant Sévin
French
Workshop director
Ferdinand Barbedienne
French
1867
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 556
Shown at the Paris International Exposition of 1867, this unique cabinet was created by Maison Barbedienne, the leading manufacturer of artistic bronzes. The cabinet’s eclectic decoration consists of colorful cloisonné enameling in floral and scrolling patterns derived from Near Eastern art. The overall shape is of a European Renaissance collector’s cabinet with Moorish style arches in its interior. William H. Vanderbilt purchased the cabinet for his mansion in New York.
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210748.txt | Sofa (Canapé) (part of a set)
Sulpice Brizard
ca. 1770
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 528
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560786.txt | Inlay / bead blank, section of circular floral cane
Ptolemaic Period–Roman Period
100 BC–100 AD
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 134
A mosaic glass technique allowed multiples of an image to be created: a figural or design composition was made by bundling colored glass canes, which were then drawn out into a long bar. The bar was then sectioned at right angles, probably by striking the bar with appropriate tools, to produce small inlay tiles. The tile would then be smoothed and polished on the face intended to appear outwards.
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546999.txt | Scarab Inscribed With the Name Nefertari
New Kingdom
ca. 1550–1525 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 114
This scarab displays typical early 18th Dynasty features, including a roundish lined back and a lunate head. The base is inscribed with the name Nefertari, which almost certainly refers to Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, wife of Ahmose and mother of Amenhotep I. Her name is frequently attested on scarabs displaying distinctive early 18th Dynasty features, occasionally with the title "God's Wife."
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206894.txt | Bonbonnière in the form of a bird (pheasant)
British, possibly South Staffordshire
ca. 1770–80
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 512
Often whimsically designed in the form of animals (with additional scenes on the base), bonbonnières could in practice be purely decorative objects, though they were intended to hold sweetmeats or cachous to sweeten the breath.
Bonbonnières were just one of many luxurious trinkets, known as "toys," through which wealth and taste could be displayed. Some were made of precious metals, like gold or silver, and were sold at correspondingly high prices; others employed relatively inexpensive materials and were thus available to the expanding middle classes.
Enameled objects like this one, intended to imitate the lustrous quality of porcelain, were among the more affordable goods sold at toyshops across London and in fashionable English resort towns. Though often called "Battersea enamels" in common parlance (referring to the manufactory at York House, Battersea, operating only between 1753 and 1756), we rarely know exactly where individual pieces were made. The main centers of enamel production were in London, South Staffordshire (particularly in Bilston and Wednesbury), and Birmingham.
By the middle of the eighteenth century, technological innovations had made it possible to roll copper, instead of the far costlier gold, into very thin sheets. Powdered glass mixed with minerals (to determine the opacity and color of the enamel) would then be applied onto the copper sheets and fired at high temperatures. A design could be painted on by hand or copied from an engraving through the newly invented process of transfer printing. Many enameled objects combined both methods of decoration and would be refired after the application of each new layer or color.
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251714.txt | Lead ornament in the form of a branch
Greek, Laconian
6th–5th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Small flat votive figurines of cast lead have been found in great quantities at the ancient sanctuaries of Laconia; over one hundred thousand, dating from the seventh century B.C. to the Classical period, were dedicated to the goddess Artemis Orthia in Sparta.
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246268.txt | Travertine cinerary urn
Etruscan
2nd century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 170
The reclining woman on the lid holds a fan in her right hand and a pomegranate in her elongated left hand. The frieze below depicts the murder of a woman, perhaps Ismene, youngest child of Oedipus and sister of Antigone, or perhaps the Matricide of Alkmene, mother of Herakles. At least twenty other urns, most from Volterra, have been attributed to the same workshop, the so-called Officina di Poggio alle Croci. Vestiges of the original polychromy are visible on the hair of some figures and on the footstool at bottom center.
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5590.txt | Perfume Bottle
American
1830–70
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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557894.txt | Mummy bandage of Hepmeneh, born of Tasheritentaqeri, inscribed with text and vignette from the Book of the Dead
Ptolemaic Period
332–30 BC
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 134
Texts and vignettes from the Book of the Dead were meant to provide guidance and protection to the deceased. In the Ptolemaic Period these texts and vignettes were sometimes placed on linen bandages. Linen bandages are more difficult to write on than papyrus, so that the script and images may not be so attractive as a papyrus Book of the Dead; but the linen bandages were used to wrap the mummy, placing the magic of the spells in direct proximity to the body. These bandages could be very long - one in Brussels reaches 8 meters or 26 feet - but in early periods of discovery they were often cut into many pieces for sale.
This bandage belonged to a man named Hepmeneh, overseer of royal unguents, son of the woman Tasheritentaqeri. It contains spells having to do with reaching the burial place. The vignette depicts the deceased worshipping the god Re-Harakhty in his bark, a scene which actually coordinates with spells other than those in this part of the text. The spells are written in hieratic script from right to left in columns of long horizontal lines. Clearly the text was inscribed first with space left for the vignette: much too much space was left and the vignette could not fill the area.
Inscribed bandages of the same owner are found in Boston, Philadelphia and Heidelberg.
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247176.txt | Terracotta krater
Mycenaean
ca. 13th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Decorated on each side with an octopus, two vertical handles.
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4856.txt | Looking glass
American or British
1745–80
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 722
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556552.txt | Stela of Merneptah
Middle Kingdom–Second Intermediate Period
ca. 1802–1550 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 109
This round-topped stela with a solid red border is dedicated to a man named Merneptah. He is shown seated on a block seat, which resembles a throne often used by a king or a deity, rather than a more common four-legged chair. He is dressed in a long wraparound skirt, which the artist has rendered as a sheer garment in order to reveal the short kilt underneath. Merneptah holds a water lily blossom, a symbol of regeneration, up to his face. Immediately in front of his legs is a table laden with bread loaves and a bundle of green onions. A woman named Ina stands before him and holds up a branch, an unusual object in this context. Above the two figures are a pair of wedjat eyes and a shen sign, all of which have protective meanings. The three lines of inscription at the bottom of the stela include an offering formula that invokes the god Osiris.
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243310.txt | Gold crescent-shaped earring
Cypriot
5th century BCE–1st century CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Crescent-shaped earrings occur on Cyprus with greater or less embellishment. The majority are probably Roman.
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545248.txt | Scarab
Middle Kingdom–Second Intermediate Period
ca. 1981–1550 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 109
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590461.txt | Document Sealing with the Throne Name of Amenhotep III
New Kingdom
ca. 1390–1352 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 120
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245761.txt | Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)
Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
5th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 159
Opaque red brown, streaked with sealing wax red, with handles in same color; trails in opaque yellow and opaque turquoise blue.
Broad horizontal rim-disk; cylindrical neck, tapering downwards; narrow rounded shoulder; straight-sided cylindrical body, tapering upwards; uneven convex bottom; two large vertical ring handles with knobbed tails, applied over trail decoration; one higher than the other.
A yellow trail attached at edge of rim-disk; a turquoise blue trail applied to neck, wound in a close-set spiral down body; another yellow trail applied over the turquoise blue in an uneven band around lower body and bottom.
Intact, except for part of one ring handle and one circular hole in bottom; dulling and pitting, and faint iridescence.
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7387.txt | Settee
American
1760–90
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 717
This is one of only two fully upholstered cabriole-leg Massachusetts settees that are known today. It belongs to a small group of Boston furniture characterized by asymmetrically arranged C-scrolls and knee carving in foliage patterns. The flared wings and bow-shaped back are supreme manifestations of New England Rococo design.
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437812.txt | A Dance in the Country
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo
Italian
ca. 1755
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 643
Unlike his father, the younger Tiepolo did not pursue complex allegorical schemes, but expressed his artistic personality most strongly through idealized depictions of contemporary life. This country dance combines figures dressed fashionably and in the archetypal costumes of the Italian comedy, including the jaunty figure of Mezzetin at center and the masked, hatted character of Punchinello, or Punch, who was a favorite of the artist. Though the mood is very different from the elder Tiepolo’s paintings, similarly unexpected and playful tricks of composition and dramatic foreshortening appear here, such as the chair turned away at right and Mezzetin’s incredible pose: raised on one leg with his elbow pointed toward the viewer.
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835326.txt | Porcelain flower (one of a set of nine)
French
mid-18th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 521
When the Vincennes manufactory opened around 1740, it specialized in making soft-paste porcelain flowers, many of which would have been combined with Meissen porcelain and pieces exported from China to make unique ornamental wares for the mantel. The luxury sellers known as marchand-merciers helped to market this combinatory aesthetic to elite consumers in eighteenth-century Paris.
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554345.txt | Mask
New Kingdom
ca. 1550–1295 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 117
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574095.txt | Mace head
Predynastic Period
ca. 3850–2960 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 101
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195936.txt | Wineglass
German, Thuringia
ca. 1730
On View
Gallery
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254678.txt | Terracotta statuette of a deer
Greek
late 6th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Traces of paint can be seen on this statuette: yellow on the plinth and on the deer; red on all four feet, on the nose, and inside the ears.
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449314.txt | Horse Figurine
9th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 452
This small horse, which once had a rider perched on its back, may have been a child's toy.
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205351.txt | Wall fountain
Simone Mosca
Italian
1527–34
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 503
Born in the stone-working town Settignano and trained by the great architect Antonio da Sangallo (the younger), Simone Mosca worked with leading artists as a sculptor of architectural ornament. This fountain was carved along with a chimneypiece for the Palazzo Fossombroni in Arezzo, of a favored local stone, pietra serena. It vacillates delightfully between architecture and sculpture, striking a balance among the bases, columns, and entablature, on one hand, and the masks, scallops, and vegetal motifs on the other. In these same years, Mosca executed decoration for Michelangelo in the Medici Chapel; the subtle push and pull of surfaces across the fountain show Mosca's grasp of Michelangelo's intentions.
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7393.txt | Settee
American
1800–1830
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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252209.txt | Carnelian Cushion
Minoan
ca. 1600–1450 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 151
goat
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471853.txt | Enthroned Virgin and Child
French
1150–1200
On view at The Met Cloisters in
Gallery 04
The stark and rhythmic lines of this sculpture are almost modern in their effect. In fact, this seemingly straightforward image of the infant Jesus seated rigidly on the Virgin’s lap represents a complex, medieval theological notion known as a Sedes Sapientiae (Throne of Wisdom), in which Mary serves as a throne for Christ, who in turn embodies divine wisdom. Placed on an altar, this imposing group was an object of veneration that could also be carried in procession or incorporated into a theatrical performance within a church. A circular cavity in the Virgin’s left shoulder suggests that the sculpture contained a relic. Recent conservation treatment has revealed remains of the original painted and applied metal decoration. A Virgin and Child (16.32.194) probably by the same artist is on view in the Main Building of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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623607.txt | Worker Shabti of Henettawy (C), Daughter of Isetemkheb
Third Intermediate Period
ca. 990–970 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 126
See 25.3.19.
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548778.txt | Chisel
New Kingdom
ca. 1479–1458 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 116
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549466.txt | Cartouche Amulet Incribed with the Name Menkheperre
New Kingdom
ca. 1479–1458 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 117
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566485.txt | Dagger handle (with 22.3.75a)
Second Intermediate Period–Early New Kingdom
ca. 1580–1479 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 109
See 22.3.75a
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5584.txt | Pepper Caster
American
1885–90
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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551229.txt | Pendant: Petals of Cornflower
New Kingdom
ca. 1390–1352 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 120
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567943.txt | Tile fragment, part of a wig from a figure of the king
New Kingdom, Ramesside
ca. 1279–1213 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 122
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4842.txt | Looking Glass
American
1795–1810
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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Subsets and Splits