Washstand (athénienne or lavabo)

Charles Percier

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This lavabo or athénienne has the form of an antique tripod and is one of two copies made by Biennais (the other is at Fontainebleau) of the washstand now in the Louvre, which was made for Napoleon between 1800 and 1804. Elegant gilt-bronze swans with outstretched wings at the top of the legs support the ring to hold a silver-gilt washbasin, now missing. A matching ewer was originally placed on the middle shelf. Percier’s drawing for the model is in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

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