Cupid ("L'Amour Falconet")

Sèvres Manufactory

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The biscuit figure of Cupid was first produced at Sèvres in 1758, the year after Falconet exhibited his marble version in the Salon. The factory began producing bases for the Cupid in 1761, the same year that Psyche, the mate to Cupid, was introduced. This base is inscribed with a quote from Voltaire that reads (in translation): 'Who'er thou art, thy master see: he is, or was, or ought to be'.

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