Potpourri vase (pot-pourri à jour)

Vincennes Manufactory

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1753, the Vincennes factory introduced a marking system that indicated the year the object was decorated. Prior to 1753, the factory had begun to mark the base of each piece with interlaced Ls, the royal cipher. Beginning at some point in 1753, a letter that represented a year was painted inside the interlaced Ls. For the first ten years of this marking system, the letter actually indicates a two-year period, as the new letter was adopted during the year rather than at its start (i.e., A = 1753/54). This practice changed in 1763, allowing a letter to signify a single year.

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