Bowl

Fernand Thesmar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this plique à jour technique there is no supporting metal structure for this enamel. The fabric of the bowl is the enamel itself which is held in place during firing by a thin sheet of gold that is later removed. Thesmar executed many small bowls of this type between 1891–1903. All are evocative of Islamic style, relating this group more closely to the Near Eastern-inspired glass of his contemporary Philippe-Joseph Brocard (died 1896) than to his own work in cloisonné enamels.

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