2023 Sterling Silver Snowflake Ornament

Art ornaments inspired by The Met collection.

This year’s collectible sterling silver snowflake ornament reinterprets the lavish rosette from a rosewood, spruce, walnut, bone, and mother-of-pearl mandola (1797) in the Museum’s collection of musical instruments. The rare, larger mandola bassa Milanese has seven double courses of strings that are tuned an octave lower than a Milanese mandolin. This particular mandola was crafted in Milan by Giuseppe Presbler (German, active Italy, 1760–1801), who belonged to a family of lute and mandolin makers originally from Germany.