Vase with face

Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Emerging from the globular body of this vase is the face of a sleeping woman. Dalpayrat collaborated with the sculptor Voisin-Delacroix on a number of pieces, mainly small models. This large-scale vase is one of their most ambitious works. Voisin-Delacroix was associated with the Symbolist movement, and this piece–with the hidden sleeping face–relates to Symbolist themes associated with dreaming. Dalpayrat's streaky glaze in white, blue, yellow, and copper-red adds to the dreamlike effect.

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