Teapot (part of a set)

Johan Henrik Blom

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The service (47.51.1–.5) is thought to have been given by Empress Catherine II to Count Pyotr Rumiantsev, governor of the Ukraine and leader of the victorious Russian forces in the war with Turkey (1768–74). Enamel portraits on the utensils depict the imperial line from Peter the Great to Catherine II to her son, later Paul I. Facing are: Catherine II on the coffeepot, the empress Elizabeth on the teapot, the empress Anna on the bowl, Peter III on the cream jug, and Catherine I on the sugar-box lid. The shape and decoration recall silver utensils made in northern Germany, especially Berlin. German silver was highly esteemed in Russia, where a large German artistic community had influenced the transmission of Western forms since the time of Peter the Great. The goldsmith, born in Vyborg at the Gulf of Finland, might also have spent time in northern Germany during his journey years.

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