Ewer

François-Desiré Froment-Meurice

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Froment-Meurice, among the most renowned silversmiths of mid-nineteenth-century Paris, was a historicist whose work embraced medieval, Renaissance, and Islamic styles, which he charged with an abundance of sculptural ornament. Here, in a radical departure both from his own manner and from the prevailing taste of the period, he let the suavely curved profiles speak for themselves, emphasizing them through the use of a single all over trellis and flower-head pattern, adjusted in scale and rhythm to each change of surface (see also 1999.217.2). Combining traditional and new techniques, Froment-Meurice introduced both chromatic and textural variety through chasing, engraving, and electroplated gilding in two colors—yellow and greenish white gold—on a ground that had been partly polished and partly acid etched. Froment-Meurice frequently repeated his models, and this ensemble is one of three known versions. It was perhaps an experimental design made for stock, as the unidentified cipher set into the handle is of a different color gold; this suggests that the cipher was inserted at the time of purchase.

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