Teapot

Kenneth McKenzie

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although politically united, England and Scotland had distinctive social customs, a fact reflected in their silver works. Scottish silver and gold design remained independent of London styles and fashions until the mid-eighteenth century. The completely spherical "bullet" teapot, along with matching milk jug (see 1983.224) and sugar bowl, was an especially Scottish, particularly Edinburgh preference. These three objects, made by three Edinburgh goldsmiths within a few years of each other, exemplify the broad demand for this shape. Characteristic also is the restrained narrow band of engraved ornament on all three pieces.

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