The Sacrifice of Iphigenia
ca. 1667–88
Medium
Pen and brown ink
Dimensions
7 15/16 x 6 7/16 in. (20.2 x 16.3 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.784
Tags
About this artwork
This kozuka (knife handle) exemplifies nineteenth-century Japanese metalworking artistry, combining copper-gold alloy (shakudō), copper, and silver in sophisticated decorative patterns. The handle would have fitted like a sleeve around a small utility knife blade carried in a pocket on the reverse of a katana scabbard, serving both practical and decorative functions. Japanese sword fittings reached extraordinary refinement during the Edo period, when relative peace allowed samurai culture to emp...
About the Artist
Gerard de Lairesse · 1641–1711
Gerard de Lairesse (1641–1711) was a leading figure of the Dutch Golden Age, renowned as both a painter and art theorist whose classical ideals bridged the dramatic realism of Rembrandt with the refined elegance of French academism. Born on September 11, 1641, in Liège, he was the second son of the painter Renier de Lairesse (1597–1667). De Lairesse received his initial training under his father b...