Madame du Barry (1746–1793)

Sèvres Manufactory

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sèvres employed many of the most famous French sculptors of the day to produce terracotta or plaster models that could be reproduced in biscuit porcelain. Many of these models were reductions of large-scale sculptures, usually in marble, that had met with critical success. In this instance, the sculptor Pajou created an entirely new model rather than copy the lifesize terracotta bust of Madame Du Barry he had executed two years before.

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