Biscuit box with cover

Christopher Dresser

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The pattern is a variation on a design inspired by frost on a window pane that Christopher Dresser published in 1873 as a design for stained glass. It also represents Dresser's "idea of power, energy, force, or vigour" in a single pattern. The common earthenware material combined with the silver-plated mounts appealed to Dresser's desire to create affordable yet well-designed goods for the growing consumer market.

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