Chocolate pot

Pierre Vallières

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This pot follows a basic design employed by French silversmiths for much of the eighteenth century, with the handle placed at right angles to the spout—perhaps to facilitate pouring by a servant. This standard design was often used for French silver coffeepots as well, but only chocolate pots were provided with an opening in the lid, often hidden by a sliding finial as here, to allow for the insertion of a stick to stir the contents.

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