My Day At The Met

 Fra Filippo Lippi, (detail) mid 15th century
Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement

To say that yesterday was one of the best days of my life, might be hard to quantify - as I've had a multitude of them so far :) However, to say that it was an exquisite day filled with beautiful art, gems & design that blew my socks off?  Oh yeah! Welcome to the Met....

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has always been one of my favorite places in NYC. In fact, if for some reason I'm having an off day - I will say to myself "When in doubt, go to the Met!" This enormous museum never fails to delight & astonish me, take me out of my own head space and drop me off at the doorway to the world. I have been there countless times and still manage to find something I've never seen before. Literally, you can travel the globe in one day, that is if you have comfortable shoes and say, 6 hours :). Yesterday my visit took me to Egypt, China, England, Spain, Byzantium, Italy, Greece, France, Germany & America.  It was probably many more countries than that - but those were ones that I focused on with the exhibits that I saw and museum wings that I walked through.

I started my journey in ancient Egypt where I wanted to see the beautiful jewelry of the Egyptian princess, Sithathoryunet. I first learned of the princess when I was at an all-day, ASJRA jewelry conference last fall and listened to a great talk by Egyptologist Rita Freed of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. I then, later, gave a short presentation on the princess and her jewelry to my colleagues at work. Needless to say, I was looking forward to seeing these pieces in person.
There are quite a few pieces of hers at the Met - here is her stunning pectoral pendant.

Pectoral pendant belonging to Sithathoryunet
 - Egyptian, 12th Dynasty

 After I got my fill of the Egyptian wing I decided to go visit an old favorite of mine in the Robert Lehman Collection. This collection is a treasure trove with everything from Impressionist paintings to Renaissance jewelry & Majolica to a fabulous collection of Medieval art, Venetian glass, furniture from many periods, including a gorgeous Thomas Hope chandelier from 1802, and my favorite, a beautiful portrait of a princess in a blue satin dress by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. I love how she so elegantly shows the style of the 1850's in France and, of course, her jewelry :)

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1851-1853Joséphine-Eléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassacede Béarn, princesse de Broglie 
Photo - Met Museum

She wears a mix of styles (not uncommon in that period) with a stack of rings on one finger, including a coiled snake, a loosely worn wrapped necklace of pearls with diamond clasp, on her wrist - a gold and diamond bracelet on the other wrist, pearl fringe earrings and to top it all off, a a bulla necklace, of the archeological revival style (possibly by the great Castellani). I love the cavalier nature of it all!

Next up are some wonderful Byzantine jewels I found!

Byzantine Gold Necklace with Cross

Pair of Jeweled Byzantine Bracelets - gold, silver, pearls, sapphires
amethysts, quartz & emerald plasma - 500-700 AD

Necklace with gold marriage medallion and hematite amulet
 and bracelet with bust of Roma - Byzantine

Byzantine Disc Brooches, set with gems & pearls - originally
used to fasten parts of a garment together
600 - 725AD

I then finally made my way to the Charles James: Beyond Fashion exhibit that everyone's been raving about. James, an essentially self-taught American designer, was known for his ball gowns and dressed some of the most famous starlets in Hollywood as well as many prominent socialites, such as Millicent Rogers.

Pretty stellar stuff with a room full of ball gowns from the 40's & 50's, each one on its own circular island, with a state of the art digital display set into the island with images of the dress being de-constructed, showing the architectural nature of how his gowns were made. Also information on historical styles and trends that James incorporated in his designs. The exhibit was split into two spaces, one on the main floor and the other in the newly renovated Costume Institute on the lower level of the museum. Here they had some of his earlier dresses from the late 1930's, which were my favorites, and other garments such as cocktail dresses and magnificent coats. All in all, a really fascinating, learning exhibit with great quotes by the designer printed on the glass walls. Loved it!

"Forget all you know and learn something new everyday"  -Charles James

Charles James - Butterfly Ball Gown, 1955
Photo - Met Museum

Charles James - Evening Dress, 1948
Photo - Met Museum

Charles James - Ball Gowns, 1948 / Photograph by Cecil Beaton
Photo - Met Museum

"I have sometimes spent twelve hours working on one seam; utterly entranced and not hungry or tired till finally it had as if of its own will found the precise place where it should be placed." 

-Charles James

Last but not least, by any means, I wended my way to the Medieval European art gallery. Pretty exhausted by this time but knew my visit wouldn't be complete without seeing a couple of amazing portraits - ones that I'm very familiar with.

Hans Memling
Portrait of Maria Portinari, 1470

Detail of Memling painting above

Let's face it - Medieval art (portraiture, primarily) is one of my absolute favorites. Might sound kind of crazy but I fell in love with it many years ago when I was on an extended trip around Europe. The rich, intense colors, the flatness of the poses - yet the incredible, photographic-like clarity of the interiors and surroundings. Velvet and silk robes that you feel you can literally touch - exquisite! Something about these portraits brings me alive and makes me feel like I'm a part of that history. Who knows, maybe I was ;) Plus, the jewelry is always so beautifully detailed and prominent - what's not to love? !

Fra Filippo Lippi, mid 15th century
Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement
(unfortunately my photo doesn't do this one justice!)

So, an incredible day at the Met!  I saw much more than is talked about here but these were definitely the highlights! I finished my long & lovely day with a glass of Pinot Bianco and some olives at the Great Hall Balcony Bar, where live classical music was being performed.

Heavenly, is the word I would use :)