Beaker

Antoine Bailly

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1545 François I founded the Hôpital de la Trinité to shelter abandoned children. Among the trades taught there was silversmithing, taught by a worker who had been favorably passed on by the wardens of the guild. In recompense for his instruction, the teacher-worker could become a master at the end of eight years. Antoine Bailly registered his first mark in 1748 in this way. In 1756, as a Paris maker, he turned in the mark gained through his work at the Hôpital and registered the mark which is found on this piece.

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