Bowl with cover (Écuelle) (part of a traveling set)

Joachim-Frédéric Kirstein I

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Covered bowls such as this, known in France as écuelles, were intended for serving hot broth or soup. During the early eighteenth century, broth or bouillon was commonly consumed in the bedroom in the morning during the toilette, the elaborate washing and dressing ritual. The bowl’s cover kept the contents warm, and the broth could be sipped from the bowl by using the two handles, while bread rested on the stand (1974.356.680). This gilt-silver écuelle is notable for its Rococo-style handles, composed of overlapping irregularly shaped cartouches, and for the chased decoration encircling the finial on the cover enriched with a waterfowl swimming among reeds, a goat, and sprays of flowers. This particular écuelle has retained its original protective tooled-leather case (1974.356.684).

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