Sugar box

Paul de Lamerie

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Decorated with whimsical scenes showing the harvesting of sugar cane, this box was probably part of a set that included containers for green and bohea (black) tea. Tea was an expensive commodity during the eighteenth century, and such canisters were often stored in a locked, fitted case made of mahogany or shagreen (shark skin). The scenes of exotically dressed sugar harvesters are surrounded by abstract organic ornament that suggests a grotesque face—a juxtaposition that is characteristic of Paul de Lamerie’s workshop.

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