Pair of wall lights

Pair of wall lights

Royal Porcelain Manufactory, Berlin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Frederick the Great was an ardent champion of the Rococo style, which flourished in and around Berlin under his patronage. The northern German version of the Rococo was characterized by a pronounced asymmetry and exaggeration of form, a preference for a combination of rich materials, and the use of strong colors, qualities that distinguished the Rococo associated with Frederick's court from that of France and southern Germany. A specific characteristic of Frederick's Rococo taste was a prominent use of naturalistic, boldly sculptural flowers. Those that dominate the design of this pair of wall lights are a hallmark of the Royal Porcelain Manufactory, which Frederick established in 1763 on acquiring a struggling porcelain factory. The wall lights, among the most ambi- tious objects made at the new factory, are brilliantly conceived as a pair. The back plates are mirror images, and many of the same flowers appear on both wall lights, on one depicted with the blossoms open and on the other with them closed. Among the flowers are peonies, tulips, carnations, roses, and columbine, and their modeling, whether in low relief or in three dimensions, represents a tour de force of porcelain production in the eighteenth century.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.