Vase on a column stand

Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs, Versailles

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Romans who attached ceremonial and liturgical symbolism to porphyry used this red volcanic stone found in Egypt for various decorative purposes. This vase and its pedestal were almost certainly carved from a single antique column brought from Italy and mounted with gilt bronze in a workshop founded at the Hôtel des Menus Plaisirs, Paris, in 1771-72. The mounts of rams’ heads and swags of vine leaves and grapes are possibly by Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843). Thomire is particularly well known for his outstanding work in the Empire style.

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