Cavalier

Barthélemy Prieur

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

These are the most widely replicated of Prieur’s statuettes. There is an implicit contrast between social types, that of the fashionable gentleman holding gloves and that of the simple but chic countrywoman (see 64.101.1564) lifting her skirt while offering an apple (in some cases a basket is slung over her same left arm). The dancing forms as well as the red translucent lacquer patination were generically inspired by Giambologna and his followers in Florence.

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