Square dish (one of a pair)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Changes in tastes and dining customs are reflected in the quantity and variety of plate made for the dinner table. The late seventeenth century saw the introduction of the so-called service à la française, in which a profusion of differently shaped dishes was carefully arranged in a symmetrical pattern during each course. Thus, silver moved from decorative displays on sideboards to the table, where its role was primarily functional. Diners would help themselves from the platters, dishes, and tureens that were within reach. Identical plates were set around the edge of the table for the individual guests. This dining practice was favored until it was replaced by the so-called service à la russe in the mid-nineteenth century. As the eighteenth century progressed, porcelain and other ceramic dinner services became increasingly popular; however, the silver dinner service never lost its prestige.

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