Wine jar (Orcio da vino)

workshop of the Marmi family

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The only known examples of Montelupo ware with monochrome blue decoration on a near-white ground. That combination recalls the porcelain that had been the pride of Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici in Florence. Bernardo Buontalenti was in charge of that enterprise. These large jars, therefore, represent a prolongation of that local tradition, even though the material, size, and style differ. The latter can be associated with Buontalenti’s principal pupil, Giulio Parigi, who also worked for the Medici. Hence we are tempted to classify these jars as "bellissima robba a grotesche," as mentioned in the Medici account books of 1619.

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