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Mask

late 18th–early 19th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 545
The motif of the severed head of Medusa teeming with snakes became one of the most characteristic subjects for cameos. The image of the head perfectly suits the round field of a tondo. Artists were challenged to capture in the motif a perfect stasis between the macabre and the sublime. Generations versed in the classics knew that Perseus presented the head to the goddess Minerva and that it thenceforth embellished her breastplate. By implication, it served the wearer as a protective talisman, tacitly announcing the triumph of good over evil.

This Medusa, a decorative furniture mount, is relatively serene.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Mask
  • Date: late 18th–early 19th century
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: Gilt bronze
  • Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): 4 3/8 × 5 3/8 × 1 3/8 in. (11.1 × 13.7 × 3.5 cm)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Gilt Bronze
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1906
  • Object Number: 07.225.510.255
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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Nine-light chandelier, Gilt and patinated bronze, French
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Twenty-four-light chandelier (lustre) (one of a pair), Gilt bronze, rock crystal, French
Twenty-four-light chandelier (lustre) (one of a pair)
French
ca. 1790
Set of four three-light sconces (bras de lumière), Gilt bronze, French, Paris
Set of four three-light sconces (bras de lumière)
French, Paris
ca. 1787–88
Vase on a column stand, Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs, Versailles, Egyptian porphyry, gilt-bronze mounts, French, Versailles and Paris
Vase on a column stand
Multiple artists/makers
after 1771–72, mounts ca. 1780
Marie de Médicis (1573–1610), Guillaume Dupré French, Gilt bronze, French, Paris
Marie de Médicis (1573–1610)
Guillaume Dupré
1615

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