Ewer in the form of a conch shell

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum has a large and distinguished collection of Chinese celadon-glazed ceramics with eighteenth-century French gilt-bronze mounts. Both Chinese and Japanese porcelains were highly prized in eighteenth-century France, and imported porcelains were frequently mounted in gilt bronze to enhance their importance and value. While this porcelain shell has been attributed to China, it is now thought more likely to be Japanese in origin. This example of mounted porcelain is unusual due to the shell-shaped form of the porcelain, which is rare in Asian ceramics. The design of the gilt-bronze mounts accentuates the asymmetry of the shell and reflects the basic characteristics of the French rococo style – naturalistic motifs combined with C-scrolls employed in an asymmetrical design.

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