Candlestand (one of a pair)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Chinese fretwork first appeared in England early in the eighteenth century in garden fenves, but it was not until mid-century that the vogue for fretwork on furniture erupted. The model of these candlestands is Plate CXX in the first edition of Thomas Chippendale’s Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754).

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