Gourd vase

Jean-Joseph Carriès

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The earth tones and the natural aesthetic of the freely applied glazes, which drip down the sides of these two vases, reveal a Japanese influence. When Japanese stoneware was exhibited in Paris in 1878 it caused a sensation among critics and ceramicists. French art-potters such as Carriès valued the roughness of Japanese pots, a welcome contrast to the machine-like perfection of ceramics being produced in France at the time.

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