The Art Heritage of Puerto Rico: Pre-Columbian to Present was the first major exhibition to survey the five-hundred-year history of Puerto Rican accomplishment in art. Beginning with the clay pottery of the Igneri Indians and the stone sculpture of the Taíno culture, the exhibition included the paintings of the important eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artists, the religious folk carvings of the Santeros, and outstanding graphic works and paintings of the present day. As most of the loan objects had never before been permitted to leave the Island, this was a first occasion for many to become familiar with the art tradition of Puerto Rico. It was an educational opportunity for all visitors to discover a significant and individual cultural achievement which has flourished over many centuries. The preparation of the exhibition was a joint project of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and El Museo del Barrio. To the Metropolitan's experience in the study and exhibition of works of art was added El Museum del Barrio's special knowledge of the Puerto Rican community and of the Puerto Rican cultural achievement. Martha Vega and her able colleagues at El Museo del Barrio worked closely with the Metropolitan's staff on every aspect of the show, and especially as regards its educational purposes. The partnership of shared work and responsibility proved to be effective, practical, and successful. This cooperation between an established central resource museum and an emerging community-based institution can be a prototype for similar partnership in the future.

Opulent jewels in the Fatimid period were worn by both men and women, and likely served more than just an ornamental purpose.

Turkmen silver jewelry carried deep symbolic meanings and often marked an individual’s passage from one stage of life to another.

Departmental administrator Debbie Kuo, jewelry designer, talks about her favorite pieces of jewelry from The Met collection.

For the sculptors whose works were displayed outdoors on the fairgrounds as well as in the Fine Arts Building, the World’s Columbian Exposition was a professional and aesthetic coming of age.

A wide variety of jewelry types were produced in the Hellenistic period-earrings, necklaces, pendants, pins, bracelets, armbands, thigh bands, finger rings, wreaths, diadems, and other elaborate hair ornaments.

The Brotherhood at its inception strove to transmit a message of artistic renewal and moral reform by imbuing their art with seriousness, sincerity, and truth to nature.

Like domestic silver, jewelry is both utilitarian and a distinct marker of social status.

Senior Research Assistant Courtney Stewart has been deep in The Met's storage vaults studying the Berber jewelry from Morocco and Algeria.

The body of Pre-Angkorian sculpture known from numerous sites in southern Cambodia and Vietnam as well as peninsular Thailand shows an overall stylistic coherence.