Porringer

Thomas Cory

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

With hard currency in short supply, American colonists invested large sums in silver plate. However, since British trade laws stipulated that colonists could only buy silver in a finished form, colonial silversmiths often had to melt down imported silver objects to gain access to the metal.

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