Loving cup

Richard Williams

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This Dublin-made cup does not fit into any style of the period, but instead is inspired by vernacular forms that would have been made of humbler material—in this case, wood. Its everyday counterpart was probably much larger and likely to have been found on a farm. A romantic evocation of earlier times, the cup is unusual in its anticipation of a mid-nineteenth century movement of producing folk-type objects in precious materials. The arms belong to an unmarried baronet of the Crofton family, and include two mottos in ancient Irish, which may reflect the owner's special interests. The maker, Richard Williams, was a Dublin goldsmith. The city was an important center for silver crafts in the eighteenth century.

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