Turkish couple at coffee

Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The popularity of tea, coffee, and hot chocolate in eighteenth-century Europe is reflected in the prominence with which these beverages are depicted in porcelain figural groups. In this example, a couple wearing "Turkish dress" is seated in front of a table on which a coffeepot, two cups and saucers, and a pipe are arranged at the center. The Turkish costumes allude to the strong identification of coffee with the Near East, though the miniature coffee vessels used by the couple are European in form and decoration.

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