Century Vase

Century Vase

Karl L. H. Müller

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The “Century Vase” is one of several large works designed by the German sculptor Karl L. H. Müller for the Union Porcelain Works booth at the Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1876. It was originally intended to be displayed on a porcelain pedestal, also designed by Müller. George Washington’s profile is featured on the front and back of the vase, flanked by bison-head handles. Six relief panels portraying scenes from American history, including the Boston Tea Party and William Penn’s treaty with the Lenni Lenape, encircle the base. The unfinished vase lacks the painted scenes of American industrial progress found on two of the other large-scale other examples.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.