Pair of perfume bottles

John Bodington

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The engraved arms on these perfume bottles are beautifully preserved. Even the delicate circle traced by the engraver as a compositional aid has not worn off. The system of indicating colors or tinctures in the arms had not been widely adopted yet, so these arms cannot be securely identified. The bottles were part of a large silver dressing-table service that would have included a mirror, combs, brushes, and boxes for powder and pomade—all the necessary implements for grooming.

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