Connections: Bugs

Educator Edie Watts highlights the subtle and surprising instances where bugs are depicted throughout works in The Met collection.

"I don't know who the mosquito deity was, but I would make offerings to him or her to protect me from bites."

Educator Edie Watts highlights the subtle and surprising instances where bugs are depicted throughout works in The Met collection.


Ornate folding fan with golden patterns and red accents on each rib, intricately designed with floral motifs, displayed against a neutral background.
Discover the fascinating roles fans have played across cultures and throughout history.
Ashley E. Dunn and Jane R. Becker
May 5
Spacious modern gallery with arched brick walls and geometric ceiling. Reflective surfaces create symmetry, enhancing the room's open, serene atmosphere.
Video
This video elucidates the concept and successive stages of development of a 3D-printed funicular floor system.
April 23
Complex architectural renderings of a futuristic spire on a black background
Video
Based on the 1486 publication by Matthes Roriczer, this video explains the procedure Gothic architects used to design a structure in floor plan and elevation.
April 23
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Hair Ornament, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Gold, silver, platinum, black opals, boulder opals, demantoid garnets, rubies, enamel., American
Louis C. Tiffany
ca. 1904
Autumn Grasses in Moonlight, Shibata Zeshin  Japanese, Two-panel folding screen; ink, lacquer, silver, and silver leaf on paper, Japan
Shibata Zeshin
second half of the 19th century
Flowers and Grasses with a Praying-Mantis, Ryūsa  Japanese, Ivory, Japan
Attributed to Ryūsa
late 18th century
Parasol, Schiaparelli  French, cotton, wood, French
Design House Schiaparelli
Designer Elsa Schiaparelli
summer 1937
Necklace, Schiaparelli  French, synthetic, metal, French
Design House Schiaparelli
Designer Elsa Schiaparelli
Jean Clément
fall/winter 1938–39
Portrait of Napoleon I, baron François Gérard  French, Wool, silk, silver-gilt thread (26-28 warps per inch, 10-12 per cm.); gilded pine frame, French, Paris
Multiple artists/makers
designed 1805, woven 1808–11
Coffeepot (part of a service), Sèvres Manufactory  French, Hard-paste porcelain, French, Sèvres
Manufactory Sèvres Manufactory
Designer Léon Kann
1900–1904
Nose Ornament with Spiders, Gold, Salinar
Salinar
100 BCE–200 CE
Tahiri ra'a (fly whisk), Mā'ohi artist, Wood, coconut fiber ('aha), human hair, Austral Islands
Mā'ohi artist
Early–mid-19th century
Headdress (Kapurei), Wood, paint, Sulka people
Sulka people
late 19th–early 20th century
In Fairyland: A Series of Pictures from the Elf-World, Richard Doyle  British, Illustrations: color wood engravings and color lithographs
Multiple artists/makers
1870
Portrait of a Carthusian, Petrus Christus  Netherlandish, Oil on oak
Petrus Christus
1446
Madonna and Child, Carlo Crivelli  Italian, Tempera and gold on wood
Carlo Crivelli
ca. 1480
Heart Scarab of Hatnefer, Serpentinite, gold
ca. 1492–1473 B.C.
Mosquito Deity amulet, Green-and-White banded jasper
ca. 712–332 B.C.