Vase with cover (one of a pair)

Real Fabrica de Buen Retiro

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Buen Retiro factory was established in 1759 when Charles VII of Naples became Charles III of Spain. In that year, Charles disbanded the porcelain factory at Capodimonte in Naples and moved the enterprise, with workers and raw materials, to the palace of Buen Retiro outside Madrid. The new factory continued to use the Capodimonte mark of a fleur-de-lis for its products. The early wares and figures made at Buen Retiro are often difficult to distinguish from objects made at Capodimonte, but the fully Neoclassical character of these vases marks them as Buen Retiro, as the Capodimonte factory was closed before the Neoclassical style took root. The form of the vase is based on an antique model, and the oval medallions on one side are painted with figures from classical antiquity. Further classicizing details include the stylized molded water leaves located above the stem, and the painted garlands that frame the medallions.

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