Centerpiece

Cozzi Manufactory

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

It is likely that this tall figure group was intended to serve as the centerpiece of an elaborate, multipiece table decoration, most probably used during the dessert course. It depicts Neptune blowing a conch shell, with four hippocampi—seahorses whose bodies end in the tail of a dolphin or fish—at his feet. The marine theme is reinforced by the large scallop shells that decorate the pedestal supporting Neptune. The centerpiece was made at the Cozzi factory, which was established in Venice in 1764. Founded by Geminiano Cozzi (1764–1812), the factory made hard-paste porcelain that is often grayish in color, with a highly glossy glaze. Much of the sculpture produced by Cozzi was left undecorated, as in the present example. The factory closed in 1812, the year of Cozzi's death.

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