Saucer

Saint-Cloud factory

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This beaker, with its saucer, was one of the types of cups used for drinking hot chocolate. Eighteenth-century paintings, prints, and inventories indicate that tall cups, both with and without handles, were often intended for chocolate, especially those accompanied by a trembleuse saucer, which took various forms. In the du Paquier example in this case, the saucer has been made with a high openwork collar securing the cup. In contrast, this Saint-Cloud saucer has been modeled with a lower, solid raised lip that also stabilizes the beaker it holds.

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