Jewel coffer on stand (petit coffre à bijoux)

Martin Carlin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nine nearly identical coffers on stands are known (three in the Museum's collection) that are either stamped or attributed to Martin Carlin. Working in Paris, this successful German cabinet maker specialized in making light and elegant pieces for a fashionable and distinguished clientele. On December 13, 1770, the marchand mercier (dealer in luxury good) Simon-Philippe Poirier (ca. 1729-1785), who had a virtual monopoly on the purchase of Sèvres plaques, delivered "a coffer of French porcelain on a green ground with floral cartouches, very richly embellished with gilt bronze, and its stand" to Madame Du Barry (1743-1793), mistress of King Louis XV. Since seven of the plaques have the date letter R for 1770 painted on their backs, it has been suggested that this may have been the one commissioned by Madame Du Barry.

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