Connections: Bugs

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

September 26, 2011

4 min. watch

"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.

Art Mentioned

A slider containing 15 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.

Hair Ornament, Louis C. Tiffany American, Gold, silver, platinum, black opals, boulder opals, demantoid garnets, rubies, enamel., American — Hair Ornament
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 — Autumn Grasses in Moonlight
Shibata Zeshin
second half of the 19th century

Flowers and Grasses with a Praying-Mantis, Ryūsa Japanese, Ivory, Japan — Flowers and Grasses with a Praying-Mantis
Attributed to Ryūsa
late 18th century

Parasol, Schiaparelli French, cotton, wood, French — Parasol
Design House Schiaparelli
Designer Elsa Schiaparelli
summer 1937

Necklace, Schiaparelli French, synthetic, metal, French — Necklace
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 — Portrait of Napoleon I
Multiple artists/makers
designed 1805, woven 1808–11

Coffeepot (part of a service), Sèvres Manufactory French, Hard-paste porcelain, French, Sèvres — Coffeepot (part of a service)
Manufactory Sèvres Manufactory
Designer Léon Kann
1900–1904

Nose Ornament with Spiders, Gold, Salinar — Nose Ornament with Spiders
Salinar
100 BCE–200 CE

Tahiri ra'a (fly whisk), Mā'ohi artist, Wood, coconut fiber ('aha), human hair, Austral Islands — Tahiri ra'a (fly whisk)
Mā'ohi artist
Early–mid-19th century

Headdress (Kapurei), Wood, paint, Sulka people — Headdress (Kapurei)
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 — In Fairyland: A Series of Pictures from the Elf-World
Multiple artists/makers
1870

Portrait of a Carthusian, Petrus Christus Netherlandish, Oil on oak — Portrait of a Carthusian
Petrus Christus
1446

Madonna and Child, Carlo Crivelli Italian, Tempera and gold on wood — Madonna and Child
Carlo Crivelli
ca. 1480

Heart Scarab of Hatnefer, Serpentinite, gold — Heart Scarab of Hatnefer
ca. 1491–1473 BCE

Mosquito Deity amulet, Green-and-White banded jasper — Mosquito Deity amulet
ca. 721–343 BCE

More from The Met

Considering Young Jefferson

How do visual representations of the flawed but fascinating American revolutionary allow us to reflect on—and rethink—his legacy?

Andrew M. Davenport

August 11

Discovering Homer’s Odyssey at The Met

Six objects in The Met collection take you on Odysseus’s famed journey.

Department of Greek and Roman Art

August 6

Margaret Armstrong in Hibernia

A selection of watercolors by the celebrated artist and designer portray the disappearance of the longleaf pine ecosystem in twentieth-century America.

Nithya Guthikonda

June 24

More in:ConnectionsInspirationNatureOn View