Plate

Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, St. Petersburg

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Imperial Porcelain Factory was established in 1744 by the Empress Elizabeth I (r. 1741–61). For several years production was hampered by unreliable or inexperienced workmen, but by the 1750s the factory had begun producing porcelain in the Meissen style. This plate is from the factory's first table service, made for the empress about 1756–60. Every piece was decorated with a graceful molded trellis pattern, which suggests they were part of a dessert service, perhaps to be used in summer.

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