Ewer in the form of a dragon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Beginning in the second half of the sixteenth century, especially in Urbino, potters elaborated standard vessel types into sculptural forms. Given its relatively small volume, this ewer may have been intended more as a collectors’ item than as a functional vessel. Nonetheless, it can be filled with liquid through an opening in the dragon’s tail and then emptied through its mouth.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art