Stool (tabouret)

Friedrich Gilly

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The classicizing form is based on ancient pediment designs of Attic grave Stelai. By turning the crowning pediment structure of the Stelai upside down, the corner-shaped acroteria were elongated and adapted as the four feet of the stool, creating an extravagant contrast to its restrained rails. The overall design is indebted to English influences, examples of which can be found in Thomas Hope’s Household Furniture (1807) and George Smith’s A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1808). The curtailed yet dramatic outline and the omission of protruding décor reflect the distinguished style of Friedrich Gilly’s ornamental inventions. By merging individual design details drawn from ancient classical architecture and decoration with the unusual choice of the yellowish birch wood that was highly fashionable during this period in Eastern Europe and especially Russia, an object of commanding design quality with a considerable visual impact was created.

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