Fountain with cover and spigot

Mennecy

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In about 1737, a small porcelain manufactory was established in the town of Villeroy by a potter named François Barbin. The factory had few employees and its production was modest, despite the patronage of the duc de Villeroy, and it closed in 1748 due to financial difficulties. Barbin and his wife reestablished the factory two years later in the nearby town of Mennecy. The production of the new factory was more ambitious and technically successful than that of Villeroy, but the bulk of the factory's output was in small utilitarian objects made for domestic use. Like most Mennecy porcelain of the 1750s, the fountain is painted with a limited palette of enamel colors and there is no gilt decoration. The use of gilding was the privilege of the Vincennes factory, of which the king was a major shareholder. This fountain is among the largest pieces produced by the factory. It probably was intended to contain water to be used for hand washing, and most likely was accompanied by a basin.

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