Beaker vase (part of a five-piece garniture)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Japanese porcelain vases made for export were avidly sought by aristocratic and royal patrons to decorate their stately homes and palaces in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. While Chinese porcelains were exported to Europe and Britain in larger quantities during this period, Japanese porcelains were prized for their boldly patterned and richly-colored decoration. The popularity of works such as these changed European taste for Asian porcelain, with a more vivid palette preferred over the blue and white decoration which once defined imported porcelains.

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