Chimneypiece

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Acquired in the late nineteenth century by Baron Frédéric-Jérôme Pichon (1812–1896), the original provenance of this oak paneling is not known. The baron, a well-known Parisian bibliophile and collector, incorporated the paneling, stripped of its original paint, into the large library that he installed on the first floor of his Paris residence, the Hôtel Lauzun, at 17, quai d’Anjou, on the Ile Saint-Louis. Dating from about 1770, the paneling was not in keeping with the seventeenth-century décor of the Hôtel Lauzun and was dismantled and sold in about 1906. The three grisaille overdoor paintings in the style of Piat-Joseph Sauvage (1744–1818), the Carrara marble chimneypiece, and its framed overmantel mirror are contemporary with, but not original to, the room. Lacking evidence of the original paint color and finish, a glue-based distemper was chosen for the woodwork in this room in accordance with eighteenth-century techniques.

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