Puzzle bottle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Crossing class boundaries and spanning centuries, drinking games remain enduringly popular. At the opposite end of the spectrum from the refined Diana automaton displayed nearby, this puzzle bottle for the low end of the market provided slapstick entertainment: the puzzle involves deciding which spout to drink from without getting showered from the others. Its decorative coloration was simply and quickly achieved by spattering multiple glazes against the bottle before firing. [Elizabeth Cleland, 2017]

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