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It is thought that the female bust crowned with a laurel wreath engraved in the crest is a portrait of the woman for whom this elaborate mirror was executed. The allegorical figures of Prudence (right) and Temperance (left), flanking the crest, may symbolize the owner's virtues.

Mirror

Johann Valentin Gevers

Mirror

ca. 1710

Oak and pine veneered with tortoiseshell, silver, silver gilt, and green-stained ivory; mirror glass

This rolltop desk demonstrates the inventive talent of its maker, distinguished by six legs instead of the usual four. The chinoiserie marquetry scenes have a painterly effect that Roentgen alone attained, using minute pieces of naturally colored exotic woods. His mechanical ingenuity is exemplified by the workings of the lower section of the desk: when the key of the lower drawer is turned to the right, the side drawers spring open; if a button is pressed on the underside of these drawers, each swings aside to reveal three other drawers. The monogram DR, inlaid on the drawer below the keyhole, indicates the cabinetmaker's satisfaction, as his work is rarely signed. The turn of the key commands which side opens. The interior is decorated in the restrained French Neoclassical style with mahogany and gilded mounts. The outside was once colorful, as the Chinoiserie marquetry is set into maple panels, perhaps stained gray, evoking a silky fabric popular in the late 1770s. Like a theater scrim, it would have set off the scenes of Chinese life. Although Roentgen maintained his workshop at Neuwied, Germany, where this desk was made between 1776 and 1778, his French clientele became so important that he opened an outlet in Paris and joined the Parisian guild in 1780.

Rolltop desk

David Roentgen

Rolltop desk

ca. 1776–79

Oak, cherry, pine, mahogany, veneered with maple, burl woods, holly, hornbeam (all partially stained), tulipwood, mahogany, and other woods; mother-of-pearl; partially gilded and tooled leather; gilt bronze, iron, steel, brass, partially gold-lacquered brass

Steeped in ceramics from birth, Hugh C. Robertson pursued his craft with fierce devotion and a passion for experimentation. From a family of trained English ceramists, he honed his skills in New Jersey before settling in Massachusetts as one of the founders of Chelsea Keramic Art Works and later, Dedham Pottery. Robertson’s lifelong explorations in glazes, particularly their color and texture, make him one of the key figures of American art pottery at the turn of the twentieth century.

Vase

Hugh C. Robertson

Vase

ca. 1885–89

Stoneware

Two confronted lions.

Alabastron

Painter of New York 30.115.26

Terracotta alabastron (oil flask)

ca. 620–590 BCE

Terracotta

The angular kufic script of this page is moderated by the roundness of many letters that resemble large black dots, their inner blank spaces reduced almost to a needle point. The colored marks help the reader to recite the words correctly. The richly illuminated cartouche, embellished by the treelike decoration on the left side, contains the title of the third Qur'anic sura (al-'Imran, "of the Family of 'Imran").

Folio from a non-illustrated manuscript

Folio from a Qur'an Manuscript

9th–10th century

Ink and gold on parchment

The piece is characteristic of "Malacena" fabric.

Kantharos

Group of Vatican G.116

Terracotta kantharos (drinking cup)

3rd century BCE

Terracotta

In this close study from the Shah Jahan period a young elephant is depicted grasping leaves and cane in its trunk. While the genre of elephant subjects was well developed in the Mughal age, this example shows a particularly sensitivity to the personality and character of its subject. The elephant’s youthfulness is conveyed in its physical proportions. His forefeet are linked by a chain suggesting that he has not yet been tamed. He is informally dressed with small back cloth and has just deposited three mounds of dung as he prepares to feast on the leaves.

Illustrated single work

Young Elephant Eating

ca. 1650

Opaque color and gold on paper

This mature bearded figure must represent either Zeus, the god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian deities, or his brother Poseidon, who controlled the seas. The identity would have been clear from the attribute that was originally held in the right hand. Zeus's weapon was the thunderbolt, and a sanctuary to him was established wherever lightening struck. Poseidon wielded a trident, the three-pronged spear that fishermen used to catch huge tuna.

Statuette of Zeus or Poseidon

Bronze statuette of Zeus or Poseidon

early 5th century BCE

Bronze

Telephos, Orestes, and Clytemnestra

Squat lekythos with relief

Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

late 4th century BCE

Terracotta

Poseidon pursuing woman

Lekythos

Achilles Painter

Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

ca. 460–450 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, youth with spears pursuing woman

Nolan neck-amphora with ridged handles

Phiale Painter

Terracotta Nolan neck-amphora (jar)

ca. 440–430 BCE

Terracotta

The relief comes from the pediment of a small funerary monument (naiskos), showing a hippocamp (male sea monster) holding a rudder and shield. Similar limestone sculpture is attested at Tarentum, and this piece matches the style and workmanship of the other examples displayed here.

Relief pediment, sea monster

Limestone pediment fragment

ca. 300 BCE

Limestone

Obverse, woman with raised hands; reverse, man leaning on a crutch. The red is superposed, not reversed, as in true red-figure.

Amphora

Praxias Group

Terracotta amphora (jar)

ca. 480–460 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, departure of a warrior in a chariot.

Amphora, Type B

Lysippides Painter

Terracotta amphora (jar)

ca. 530 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, warrior between two roosters

Neck-amphora

Prometheus Painter

Terracotta neck-amphora (storage jar)

ca. 570–560 BCE

Terracotta

Four women

Vase, funerary, wedding scene

Terracotta vase

3rd–2nd century BCE

Terracotta

07.286.33: floral ornaments with maenad heads; 51.11.1: floral tendrils with duck

Skyphos, glaux

Tondo Group

Terracotta skyphos (deep drinking cup)

ca. 325–300 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, frontal head emerging from blossom surrounded by tendrils and other flowers. Reverse, a woman carrying kalathos flanked by heavy tendrils.

Kantharos

Painter of Bari 5981

Terracotta kantharos (drinking cup with high handles)

ca. 325–300 BCE

Terracotta

Carefully drawn patterns cover the outside and the inner rim of this vase; a sphinx decorates the interior medallion.

Kylix

Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)

6th century BCE

Terracotta

The vertical handle ends in a satyr's head.

Oinochoe

Group of Vienna O.565

Terracotta oinochoe (jug)

4th–3rd century BCE

Terracotta

Interior, dolphin

Lekane

Terracotta lekane (dish)

ca. 550–540 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse and reverse, satyr and maenad

Stamnos

Captives Group

Terracotta stamnos (jar)

ca. 350 BCE

Terracotta

Decorated with lotus buds.

Tripod pyxis

Terracotta tripod pyxis (box)

2nd half of the 6th century BCE

Terracotta

Applied decoration: on the shoulder, left, Herakles; right, Eros with cornucopia; below the handles, heads

Amphora

Group with Horizontal Ivy Leaves

Terracotta amphora (jar)

ca. 275–250 BCE

Terracotta

This panel exhibits the Beveled style associated with the Abbasid palace city of Samarra. It is one of a pair of wall panels casts taken from surviving ninth‑century buildings during excavations at Samarra in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

Cast of Dado panel

Cast of a Dado Panel

20th century

Plaster; cast (Stucco; molded, carved)

This drawing of a kneeling youth wearing a fur-lined gold cap is based on a work attributed to Shaikh Muhammad, an artist who was active from the 1530s to the end of the 1580s. The gold decoration on the figure’s robe, the chain of amulets and a purse across his chest, and the landscape elements do not appear in the original. Despite the long tresses, dangling earring, and narrow waist of this figure, his cap and pose indicate that he is a young man.

Illustrated single work

Kneeling Youth

late 16th century

Ink, watercolor, and gold on paper

Obverse, Aeneas and Anchises

Neck-amphora

Terracotta neck-amphora (jar)

last quarter of 6th century BCE

Terracotta

The Xenon Group refers to a variety of Apulian pottery identifiable by certain popular shapes, such as the kantharos, and by the decoration of the black-glazed surface with motifs in a matte pinkish color. The Dionysiac references here include the ivy tendril on the shoulder and the satyr heads under the handles.

Kantharos

Xenon Group

Terracotta kantharos (drinking cup with high handles)

ca. 400–350 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, Apollo with kithara (lyre) and palm tree

Lekythos

Nikon Painter

Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

ca. 460–450 BCE

Terracotta

The inscription lists small sums of money expended in connection with an athletic festival; the Odeon, the Parthenon, and the temple of Dioskouroi are mentioned.

Inscription, Athenian, fragment

Fragmentary marble inscription

1st half of 4th century BCE

Marble

Komos (revel). Obverse, flute-player and youth with skyphos

Pelike

Mannerists

Terracotta pelike (jar)

ca. 430 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse and reverse, woman walking.

Stamnos

Fluid Group

Terracotta stamnos

ca. 375 BCE

Terracotta

On the shoulder, palmette-lotos ornament

Nolan neck-amphora

Group of the Floral Nolans

Terracotta Nolan neck-amphora (jar)

ca. 480 BCE

Terracotta

Around the body, hoplites(foot soldiers) mounted on dolphins

Psykter

Oltos

Terracotta psykter (vase for cooling wine)

ca. 520–510 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, phlyax (comic actor)

Calyx-krater

Konnakis Group

Terracotta calyx-krater (mixing bowl)

ca. 350–325 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, departure of a youth

Neck-amphora

Painter of Munich 1410

Terracotta neck-amphora (jar)

ca. 530 BCE

Terracotta

Obverse, Dionysos and satyr. Reverse, two youths

Bell-krater

Asteas

Terracotta bell-krater (mixing bowl)

ca. 360–350 BCE

Terracotta

This lavishly illuminated double-page frontispiece contains the first twenty lines of prayers. The text areas are enclosed by four large panels that contain the title of the book, Mantiq al-Tayr, and the author's name, Farid al-Din 'Attar, in the middle cartouche. A minute inscription at the edge of these panels says that it was made by a famous illuminator and painter, Zayn al-'Abidin, in Isfahan by the order of Shah 'Abbas. There are another four vertical panels filled with serrated leaves next to the text area. These panels are surrounded by a meticulously arranged lobed band that shows a harmonious combination of gold, blue, light green, orange, pink, and white.

Illustrated manuscript

Farid al-Din `Attar

Mantiq al-Tayr (Language of the Birds)

ca. 1600

Binding: doublure

This teapot is one of the more striking and original creations of the Sèvres manufactory from the first half of the nineteenth century, when the factory’s production was marked by constant innovation and a striving for novelty. The decoration reflects the ongoing popularity of chinoiserie, a term used to describe the European fascination with an imagined and exotic Asia. In the eighteenth century objects in the chinoiserie taste were usually decorated with fanciful depictions of life in Asia as Europeans envisioned it. In contrast, this teapot employs and reinterprets motifs perceived to be Asian in origin. The lotus leaves of the handle, the carved ivory grip at the top, the prominent butterfly, and even the yellow ground color are references to Chinese decorative arts, but the manner in which these elements are rendered and combined is entirely European.

Teapot

Sèvres Manufactory

Teapot (Théière chinoise)

1832–34

Hard-paste porcelain decorated in polychrome enamels, gold, silver, ivory

Fudō Myōō is the most widely represented of the Buddhist deities known as Myōō, or Kings of Brightness. A fierce protector of the Buddhist Law, he is a direct emanation of the Buddha Dainichi Nyorai, the principal Buddha of Esoteric Buddhism. The first sculptures of Fudō made in Japan were seated, but standing sculptures like this one were carved beginning in the eleventh century. Fudō uses his sword to cut through ignorance and his lasso to reign in those who would block the path to enlightenment. The heavy weight of the shoulders and back is planted firmly on the stiffened legs, appropriate for a deity whose name means “Immovable.”

Figure

Fudō Myōō (Achala-vidyārāja)

12th century

Wood with lacquer, gold leaf, and color; joined-woodblock construction (yosegi-zukuri)

This calligraphic folio, comprised of découpé letters, floral motifs, and sinuous arabesques, is a masterful creation of two artists who have signed their work: Ali, the calligrapher and Muhammad Hasan, the paper cutter. The calligraphy reveals a saying attributed to ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad) upon freeing his slave Qanbar, which became a well-known Shi’ite phrase. Here the letters are interwoven with a simple but strong S-shaped arabesque scroll bearing blossoms.

Non-illustrated album leaf

Album Page with Découpé Calligraphy

1630–40

Gouache on black paper with colored and white decoupage

No doubt Degas intended to include this work in the 1886 Impressionist exhibition among the nudes he described in the catalogue as "women bathing, washing themselves, combing their hair or having it combed," since it is his only pastel of the mid-1880s of a woman having her hair combed. Executed in large format and meticulously finished, this nude—reminiscent of Rembrandt’s famous

Drawing

Edgar Degas

Woman Having Her Hair Combed

ca. 1886–88

Pastel on light green wove paper, now discolored to warm gray, affixed to original pulpboard mount

Degas made various adjustments to this composition, presumably to accommodate the violinist in his final design. He added strips of paper at the top and to the right, and there is evidence to suggest that he may have altered the dancer's pose. A pastel study for the musician is in the Museum's collection (19.51.1). The present work was formerly owned by Gustave Caillebotte, who probably bought it from or soon after the Impressionist exhibition of 1879. In 1894 he bequeathed it to Renoir, who sold it shortly thereafter.

Drawing

Edgar Degas

The Dance Lesson

ca. 1879

Pastel and black chalk on three pieces of wove paper, joined together

Manship created this portrait of his firstborn child Pauline Frances when she was three weeks old. The realistically depicted life-size half-figure of the infant is wrapped in a blanket, which envelops her head and cascades down her sides. The marble is ensconced in an elaborate gilt and polychromed cast-bronze frame, which features low reliefs of musicians and real and mythical birds and animals. The architectural format reflects the strong influence of early Italian Renaissance decorative conventions in Manship’s portrait work.

Sculpture

Paul Manship

Pauline Frances

1914

Marble, polychromed and gilt bronze frame

Napoleon I, who commissioned this vase as a gift for his brother, rides in a carriage in front of the royal residence at Saint-Cloud, where he was named emperor in 1804. The view offers a glimpse of the terraced gardens refined by André Le Notre that descent to the river Seine. This and the other vase in the pair, which depicts the emperor hunting in the hills nearby, are notable for their large scale, detailed gilding, and ground color that imitates tortoiseshell.

Vase

Sèvres Manufactory

Medici vase with a scene of the château at Saint-Cloud (one of a pair)

1811

Hard-paste porcelain decorated in polychrome enamels, gold, gilt bronze

This beaker and saucer were part of a tea and chocolate service given to Vittorio Amadeo II, King of Sardinia (1666-1732) by Augustus the Strong, the Elector of Saxony, under whose patronage the Meissen factory was established.

Saucer

Meissen Manufactory

Saucer

1724–25

Hard-paste porcelain decorated in polychrome enamels, gold

Mary Cassatt was the model for the customer in this work and also for another in the milliner series (Museum of Modern Art, New York). She purportedly said that she posed for Degas "only once in a while when he finds the movement difficult and the model cannot seem to get his idea." This pastel was shown in the final Impressionist exhibition, in 1886.

Drawing

Edgar Degas

At the Milliner's

1882

Pastel on pale gray wove paper (industrial wrapping paper), laid down on silk bolting

This is a rare and majestic drawing, depicting the historic occasion of Prince Azam Shah’s entry into the city of Ahmedabad along with his son Wala Jah. The scene is captured in enthusiastic detail, with hundreds of figures that capture the variety and drama of the moment, including an unruly mob who scramble to get the coins that have been tossed to them. No other drawing of quite this type is known so this can be considered unique, in size, subject matter and detail, rendered with a confident hand. This sense of clarity of line and detailed reportage is greatly valued in Mughal art and here we see it at full strength, not covered up by color.

Illustrated single work

Chitarman II (Kalyan Das)

Prince A'zam Shah Enters Ahmedabad

ca. 1701

Color and gold on paper

One of the conventions of Mamluk mosque lamp decoration was to execute one inscription band in blue and the other in reserve against a blue ground. On this lamp, the neck and foot repeat the phrase al‑'alim ("The Wise"), punctuated by an as yet unassigned emblem, while the body bears a formulaic dedicatory inscription but no name.

Mosque lamp

Mosque Lamp

14th century

Glass; blown, enameled, and gilded

Illuminated manuscripts written in Greek were considered one of the greatest art forms by the highly literate and sophisticated clerical and secular elite of Byzantium. Over the centuries many works were commissioned for use in important churches. The calendar in this lectionary and the quality of the entire work suggest that the manuscript was made for the great church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

Gospel lectionary; Manuscript

Jaharis Byzantine Lectionary

ca. 1100

Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment; leather binding

Lurelle Guild was an architect, illustrator, and industrial designer. An interest in Early American decorative arts and architecture infused his designs, but he also drew on elements of modernism, such as geometric forms. The "Tall Boy" cocktail shaker reflects this duality. The cylindrical shape of the shaker is simplicity itself, but the decorative reeding on the base and shoulder is a more traditional element. The shaker was produced in several colorways; it could be purchased with foot, body and cap in red, black, blue, or green.

Cocktail shaker

Lurelle Guild

Tall Boy

ca. 1934

Metal, enamel, lacquered wood

Long considered to be a masterpiece of the late sixteenth century, this cabinet was identified recently as the work of the great nineteenth-century goldsmith Reinhold Vasters, who reused old timber to buidt part of the carcase. It is possible that the central figure represents Hercules. The gold mounts, rendered in a Renaissance style typical of Vasters, depict additional mythological figures.

Cabinet

Reinhold Vasters

Cabinet with gold mounts and relief

ca. 1865–80

Pine and walnut veneered with ebony; gold, enamel, diamonds, rubies

At the dawn of the sixteenth century, artists working with boxwood conceived something entirely new: intricate, tiny carvings, the likes of which had never been seen or imagined before. Among them, this Letter P is one of only three in the form of its first owner’s initial. A personal emblem to hold in the hand, it carries the implicit protection of Saint Philip, whose action-packed legend appears inside. The newly discovered Letter was likely made for Philip the Handsome, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy and Brabant and King of Castile. This tiny treasure is a tribute to the ingenuity of woodcarvers working in the Burgundian Netherlands, over which Philip ruled from the age of three until his untimely death at age twenty-eight.

Letter P; sculpture

Letter P with the Legend of Saint Philip

ca. 1500–before 1506

Boxwood; later (18th century) embroidered silk pouch

Jews in medieval Spain referred to the Bible as the Sanctuary of God, a sacred surrogate for the lost-- and longed-for--Temple of Jerusalem. As a result, Hebrew Bibles came to be splendidly adorned, in a manner worthy of that holiest of places. This manuscript comprises the full text of the Bible, with complete vocalization, accentuation, and critical apparatus (or masoreh), with the most impressive decoration marking the beginning and end of each book and four special biblical songs. Decorative elements found in both Islamic and Christian manuscripts have been embraced, clear evidence of shared artistic taste that transcended cultural and religious prejudices.

Hebrew Bible

1300–1350 (before 1366)

Ink, tempera, and gold on parchment; leather binding

Who should be the King of England? That is the question this elaborate medieval diagram dares to answer. Created during the War of the Roses, when the Houses of Lancaster and York were engaged in a bitter fight for the English throne, this multi-page chart enlivened with bright colors and gold leaf lands emphatically on Edward IV and the House of York. With efficiency and bravado, it places Edward within world history, tracing his lineage back to Adam and Eve and linking him to the great rulers of history including King David, Alexander the Great, King Arthur, and William the Conqueror. How could Henry VI, Edward’s bitter rival, possibly compete?

Manuscript

Genealogical Chronicle of the Kings of England

1466–67

Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on parchment

This miniature stela depicts a woman named Ahmose and her husband, whose name, confusingly, was also Ahmose. Like its larger counterparts, the small piece features a pair of

Stela, miniature, Ahmose

Miniature Stela of Ahmose

ca. 1600–1500 B.C.

Steatite (glazed)

This fragment decorated with a bird surrounded by ibexes and other scattered motifs has three small feet, indicating that it served as the base of a vessel. Its glaze eroded greatly while it was buried, leaving only the black outlines of the figures and a touch of the yellow body color.

Base

Base of a Footed Buff Ware Vessel

late 8th–9th century

Earthenware; polychrome decoration under transparent glaze (buff ware)

This large and ambitious figure group is one of the most important pieces of porcelain sculpture made at the Chelsea factory, England's premier ceramic manufactory in the mid-eighteenth century. The composition of a shepherd boy teaching a shepherdess to play the flute was derived from an engraving after a work by the French artist Francois Boucher (1703–1770). The skilled porcelain modeler at Chelsea, Joseph Willems (1716–1766), was responsible for realizing the composition in three dimensions.

Group

Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory

The Music Lesson

ca. 1765

Soft-paste porcelain

This object was originally part of one of the most celebrated porcelain dinner services produced in the eighteenth century. The service, which numbered approximately 3000 pieces, was made for Heinrich, Count von Brühl (1700–1763), the director of the Meissen factory. It is commonly referred to as the “Swan service” due to the motif of swans executed in low relief that appears on most of the components of the service. This composition of the swans swimming amid reeds is based on an etching of 1654 by Wenceslaus Hollar after Francis Barlow (ca. 1626–1702). Bruhl commissioned the service in 1737, and due to its size and complexity, it took approximately four years to produce.

Sugar caster

Meissen Manufactory

Sugar caster (part of a service)

model introduced 1738

Hard-paste porcelain

This manuscript of the Bustan of Sa’di is composed of fifty-one folios including the frontispiece and a leather binding. It was likely copied in Herat, but it was illustrated for an Uzbek patron several years later, probably in Bukhara in the 1530s. The calligrapher, Sultan Muhammad Nur, also worked on the 1524–25 manuscript of the Khamsa of Nizami, several folios of which are in the Museum’s collection.

Illustrated manuscript

Sultan Muhammad Nur

Illuminated Frontispiece of a Bustan of Sa`di

dated 920 AH/1514 CE

Folio: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper Binding: Leather

Miniature offering tables are a type of dedication to temples in the later periods.

Miniature offering table

Miniature offering table

400–200 BC

Bronze or copper alloy

Porcelain decorated with a black ground in imitation of Asian lacquer was produced at Sèvres for about a fifteen-year period beginning in 1790. Furniture decorated with imported black lacquer panels saw a resurgence of popularity in the last two decades of the eighteenth century, and the Sèvres factory's efforts to simulate black lacquer on porcelain were probably stimulated by this renewed general interest in lacquer decoration. Black-ground Sèvres porcelain was decorated with chinoiserie scenes executed in gold, which was often applied in subtle tones of yellow, green, and red. Small decorative highlights were often executed in platinum, and the ability to apply platinum—first mastered by the factory in 1790—may have been an impetus to produce these lacquer-inspired pieces.

Plate

Sèvres Manufactory

Plate

1791

Hard-paste porcelain

These botanical plates (2016.217–.226) were produced by the Chelsea factory around 1755 and are often referred to as Chelsea "Hans Sloane" wares, in reference to the royal physician, traveler, and natural historian who helped transform the Chelsea Physic Garden into a center of botanical knowledge during the British Enlightenment. Several subjects depicted on these plates were taken from botanical illustrations published by Philip Miller, curator of Chelsea Physic Garden. Although flowers and fruits could typically be found on earlier porcelain wares from Meissen, the lively naturalism of the Chelsea botanical plates reflects a broadening public interest in the natural world, and evidence the forms of global commerce that brought exotic species from the Caribbean, the Americas, and Asia to England.

Plate

Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory

Botanical plate with thistle

ca. 1755

Soft-paste porcelain with enamel decoration

Louise McLaughlin was a pioneering figure in the history of American ceramics. Like many women of her time, she began her artistic career as a china painter. One of her earliest innovations was her discover of the barbotine technique in the late 1870s and early 1880s. One of her most challenging endeavors was her decision to work in artistic porcelain, a medium that had traditionally been confined to a large factory setting. McLaughlin began her experiments in porcelain in 1898 in a studio in her home, which she called “Losanti;” although a small enterprise, she hired assistants to slip-cast models she created, and then she carved or excised designs into the vases, glazed them, and had them fired in a kiln in her back yard in Cincinnati. McLaughlin and her colleagues in Cincinnati were especially influenced by the work of contemporary Scandinavian potteries, notably the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Manufactory and Bing and Grøndahl firm in Denmark and the Rørstrand in Sweden. This small vase has tiny pink blossoms strewn over the surface, encircled by meandering lines in a manner that recalls Japanese textiles.

Vase

M. Louise McLaughlin

Losanti vase

ca. 1900–04

Porcelain

These botanical plates (2016.217–.226) were produced by the Chelsea factory around 1755 and are often referred to as Chelsea "Hans Sloane" wares, in reference to the royal physician, traveler, and natural historian who helped transform the Chelsea Physic Garden into a center of botanical knowledge during the British Enlightenment. Several subjects depicted on these plates were taken from botanical illustrations published by Philip Miller, curator of Chelsea Physic Garden. Although flowers and fruits could typically be found on earlier porcelain wares from Meissen, the lively naturalism of the Chelsea botanical plates reflects a broadening public interest in the natural world, and evidence the forms of global commerce that brought exotic species from the Caribbean, the Americas, and Asia to England.

Plate

Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory

Botanical plate with fruiting branch

ca. 1755

Soft-paste porcelain with enamel decoration

These botanical plates (2016.217–.226) were produced by the Chelsea factory around 1755 and are often referred to as Chelsea "Hans Sloane" wares, in reference to the royal physician, traveler, and natural historian who helped transform the Chelsea Physic Garden into a center of botanical knowledge during the British Enlightenment. Several subjects depicted on these plates were taken from botanical illustrations published by Philip Miller, curator of Chelsea Physic Garden. Although flowers and fruits could typically be found on earlier porcelain wares from Meissen, the lively naturalism of the Chelsea botanical plates reflects a broadening public interest in the natural world, and evidence the forms of global commerce that brought exotic species from the Caribbean, the Americas, and Asia to England.

Platter

Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory

Botanical oval platter with turnip leaf

ca. 1755

Soft-paste porcelain with enamel decoration

Louise McLaughlin was a pioneering figure in the history of American ceramics. Like many women of her time, she began her artistic career as a china painter. One of her earliest innovations was her discover of the barbotine technique in the late 1870s and early 1880s. One of her most challenging endeavors was her decision to work in artistic porcelain, a medium that had traditionally been confined to a large factory setting. McLaughlin began her experiments in porcelain in 1898 in a studio in her home, which she called “Losanti;” although a small enterprise, she hired assistants to slip-cast models she created, and then she carved or excised designs into the vases, glazed them, and had them fired in a kiln in her back yard in Cincinnati. McLaughlin and her colleagues in Cincinnati were especially influenced by the work of contemporary Scandinavian potteries, notably the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Manufactory and Bing and Grøndahl firm in Denmark and the Rørstrand in Sweden. This vase in particular channels the work of Bing and Grøndahl with its pierced neck of scrolling stems.

Vase

M. Louise McLaughlin

Losanti vase

ca. 1900–4

Porcelain

The pottery established at University City, outside of Saint Louis, Missouri, was the brainchild of visionary Edward Gardner Lewis. He sought to experiment with a new approach to women’s education, which included publishing a journal and offering mail-order classes. To launch his pottery enterprise, Lewis lured Taxile Doat, the eminent French ceramist from Sèvres; Adelaide Alsop Robineau, master porcelain artist from Syracuse, New York, and her husband, Samuel; and English –born potter Frederick Hurten Rhead to University City. Having discovered a vein of kaolin clay (the key ingredient for porcelain) during the excavation for Lewis’s publishing headquarters, he decided that the pottery would exclusively focus on porcelain. The intimate environment of these superbly talented potters fostered close collaboration among the artists there.

Vase

Emile Diffloth

Vase

ca. 1910

Porcelain

The pottery established at University City, outside of Saint Louis, Missouri, was the brainchild of visionary Edward Gardner Lewis. He sought to experiment with a new approach to women’s education, which included publishing a journal and offering mail-order classes. To launch his pottery enterprise, Lewis lured Taxile Doat, the eminent French ceramist from Sèvres; Adelaide Alsop Robineau, master porcelain artist from Syracuse, New York, and her husband, Samuel; and English –born potter Frederick Hurten Rhead to University City. Having discovered a vein of kaolin clay (the key ingredient for porcelain) during the excavation for Lewis’s publishing headquarters, he decided that the pottery would exclusively focus on porcelain. The intimate environment of these superbly talented potters fostered close collaboration among the artists there. Doat introduced the high-fired crystalline glazes that had been perfected at Sèvres, and although many of the shapes were rather simple and restrained, as seen on this example, they often featured among the most sophisticated and shimmering crystalline glazes known in the United States.

Vase

University City Pottery

Vase

1912

Porcelain

The pottery established at University City, outside of Saint Louis, Missouri, was the brainchild of visionary Edward Gardner Lewis. He sought to experiment with a new approach to women’s education, which included publishing a journal and offering mail-order classes. To launch his pottery enterprise, Lewis lured Taxile Doat, the eminent French ceramist from Sèvres; Adelaide Alsop Robineau, master porcelain artist from Syracuse, New York, and her husband, Samuel; and English –born potter Frederick Hurten Rhead to University City. Having discovered a vein of kaolin clay (the key ingredient for porcelain) during the excavation for Lewis’s publishing headquarters, he decided that the pottery would exclusively focus on porcelain. The intimate environment of these superbly talented potters fostered close collaboration among the artists there. Doat introduced the high-fired crystalline glazes that had been perfected at Sèvres, and although many of the shapes were rather simple and restrained, as seen on this example, they often featured among the most sophisticated and shimmering crystalline glazes known in the United States.

Vase

University City Pottery

Vase

ca. 1912

Porcelain

The nondirectional sound of the violin family was difficult to capture before the advent of electric recording. Strohviols are not electric instruments, but their large funnels directed the sound of their strings toward the horn of the recording phonograph. Although electric recording made strohviols obsolete, their minimalist bodies inspired the design of later electric violins.

Stroh Violin

Stroh Violin

first quarter 20th century

Mahogany and aluminum

The Flemish-born Rysbrack was a dominant force in developing the psychologically penetrating portraiture of Augustan England. A log of his busts, begun by George Vertue in 1732 and continued until 1744, lists a bust of "Dr. Bernard, Bp Rapho," as well as a "Son of Mr. Bernard." The fate of the former bust is not known, but the Museum's bust is securely identifiable with the latter. William Barnard was consecrated bishop of Raphoe in Northern Ireland in 1744, succeeded to the bishopric of Derry in 1746–47, and died in 1768. The names of two sons, both clergymen, are recorded, but that of John Barnard is not. The boy is fashionably outfitted in Hussar costume, but there is a grave and wasted aspect to his intelligent features. Conceivably Rysbrack was asked to perpetuate the memory of a beloved child who died at about the age of eight.

Bust

John Michael Rysbrack

John Barnard

1744

Marble

Part of a larger set of seat furniture, these elegant armchairs with a concave back, are so-called fauteuils en cabriolet. Their frames are stamped on the underside I-B, which is believed to be an alternate mark for Georges Jacob (master 1765–1814), one of the most successful chair makers of eighteenth-century France, who supplied beds and seat furniture to the crown.

Armchair

Georges Jacob

Armchair (part of a set)

ca. 1780–90

Walnut, gilded

The top of this elegant worktable was meant to be used as a guéridon, to support a candelstick offering light when the owner, most likely an aristocratic woman, was working on her needlepoint or sewing at night.

Candlestand and worktable

Roger Vandercruse, called Lacroix

Candelstand and worktable (table à ouvrage en guéridon)

ca. 1785

Oak veneered with tulipwood, boxwood, holly and ebonized holly, sycamore, and other woods; soft-paste porcelain, gilt bronze, silk

This type of cup was intended for serving milk, probably served warm due to the presence of a cover. The milk might have been mixed with different ingredients in order to cure various ailments; the stand could be used to hold slices of bread. The painter Méreaud specialized in the type of decoration found on this cup and stand, which employs dense patterns that recall textile designs.

Cup with cover and tray

Sèvres Manufactory

Cup with cover and tray (gobelet à lait et corbeille carré)

1764

Soft-paste porcelain

About 1780 the Imperial factory began the production of a large series of figures depicting Russian national types, of which fourteen are represented in the Linsky Collection. Like most of the figures, this elegant woman from Kazan is modeled from engravings published by Johann Gottlieb Georghi in his Description if All the Peoples Inhabiting the Russian State (editions of 1774, 1776, and later). The authorship of the models themselves is not established, but some may be attributable to Jean-Dominique Rachette (1744–1809), chief modeler at the factory from 1779 to 1804.

Figure

Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, St. Petersburg

Kazan Tartar Woman

ca. 1780–1800

Hard-paste porcelain

About 1780 the Imperial factory began the production of a large series of figures depicting Russian national types, of which fourteen are represented in the Linsky Collection. Like most of the figures, this figure is modeled from engravings published by Johann Gottlieb Georghi in his Description if All the Peoples Inhabiting the Russian State (editions of 1774, 1776, and later). The authorship of the models themselves is not established, but some may be attributable to Jean-Dominique Rachette (1744–1809), chief modeler at the factory from 1779 to 1804.

Figure

Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, St. Petersburg

Peasant Woman from Ingria (Ingermanland)

ca. 1780–1800

Hard-paste porcelain

This example is the earliest known vase of this model, and it sold for the price of 720 livres, which was roughly the annual salary of a skilled worker such as a cabinetmaker. This vase, combined with the two vases (50.211.156a, b, .157a, b), was acquired by Prince Henry of Prussia, the younger brother of Frederick the Great. He must have valued the garniture highly, for he kept it on a chest of drawers in his bedroom in his palace in Berlin.

Vase

Sèvres Manufactory

Vase (vase Boileau) (part of a set)

1758

Soft-paste porcelain

This plate is from a remarkable service that reflected the most up-to-date Neoclassicism of the late eighteenth century. The shapes and the decoration were commissioned from the architect Louis le Masson who was instructed that the service should represent "the most rigorous antique taste." The need for new forms and decorative schemes for the service delayed its production, and it remained incomplete at the outbreak of the Revolution. Less than twenty pieces from the service Arabesque are known today.

Plate

Sèvres Manufactory

Plate (assiette octogone or assiette platte) from the "Service Arabesque"

ca. 1783–85

Soft-paste porcelain

As was the case with many of its porcelain sculptures, Du Paquier’s Lovers with a Birdcage was inspired by a Meissen model. The modeler at Meissen, Johann Joachim Kaendler, is thought to have been inspired, in turn, by an engraving from the series A Rake’s Progress by William Hogarth (1697–1764). Du Paquier’s porcelain scuptures are charmingly sturdy rather than elegant; nevertheless, they were considered worthy of the finest decoration, as can be seen here in the gentleman’s gold brocade coat and matching breeches.

Group

Johann Joachim Kändler

Lovers with a Birdcage

December 1737

Hard-paste porcelain

This model of vase is made in two parts. The flared upper section would have contained earth for growing plants; the lower section held water. Small holes in the base of the upper section allowed the water to be absorbed. These two vases formed a garniture with the slightly earlier vase, "vase Boileau" (50.211.158a, b), and were owned by Prince Henry of Prussia.

Vase

Sèvres Manufactory

Vase (vase hollandois nouveau ovale) (one of a pair) (part of a set)

1763

Soft-paste porcelain

This model of vase is made in two parts. The flared upper section would have contained earth for growing plants; the lower section held water. Small holes in the base of the upper section allowed the water to be absorbed. These two vases formed a garniture with the slightly earlier vase, "vase Boileau" (50.211.158a, b), and were owned by Prince Henry of Prussia.

Vase

Sèvres Manufactory

Vase (vase hollandois nouveau ovale) (one of a pair) (part of a set)

1763

Soft-paste porcelain

While the Sèvres factory produced a variety of vases for the display and growing of flowers, a large percentage of its vases were intended for ornamental purposes only. This model, with its cover and decorative handles in the form of cherubs clearly belongs to this latter category. The Museum's vase is decorated with biscuit (unglazed) porcelain medallions depicting Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.

Vase with cover

Sèvres Manufactory

Vase with cover (Vase Paris enfants)

ca. 1778

Soft-paste porcelain

The bucolic scenes on the front of these vases (see also 58.75.68a, b) are after compositions by the French painter Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721). Engraved together on one copper plate by Louis Crépy in 1729, L'heureux moment (the happy moment) and Le berger content (the content shepherd) were, as a result, printed on the same sheet of paper and often used as a pair.

Vase with cover

Sèvres Manufactory

Vase with cover (vase à bandes) (one of a pair)

ca. 1770–75

Soft-paste porcelain

On December 30, 1773, the marchand mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier sold Madame Du Barry "a secretary with French porcelain on a green ground highly decorated with gilt-bronze mounts." That description fits this piece which has, furthermore, porcelain plaques bearing the date letter for 1773. Since the secretary is not listed in Madame Du Barry's inventory it is possible that she intended the piece as a wedding gift for Louis XVI's younger brother Charles-Philippe, comte d'Artois and the future Charles X (1757-1836) and Marie-Thérèse of Savoy (1756-1805) who were married in 1773. A similar piece of furniture was, indeed, recorded among the comtesse d'Artois's belongings at Versailles in 1795. Although the description is very detailed and even included dimensions that correspond to those of the Metropolitan's secretary, it failed to mention the color of the borders on the Sèvres plaques. It could thus as easily refer to a closely related secretary now at Waddesdon Manor in Aylesbury, England, which has plaques with blue borders.

Desk

Martin Carlin

Drop-front desk (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en cabinet)

ca. 1773

Oak veneered with tulipwood, amaranth, holly, and ebonized holly; ten soft-paste porcelain plaques; gilt-bronze mounts; marble; velvet (not original)

The bucolic scenes on the front of these vases (see also 58.75.69a, b) are after compositions by the French painter Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721). Engraved together on one copper plate by Louis Crépy in 1729, L'heureux moment (the happy moment) and Le berger content (the content shepherd) were, as a result, printed on the same sheet of paper and often used as a pair.

Vase with cover

Sèvres Manufactory

Vase with cover (vase à bandes) (one of a pair)

ca. 1770–75

Soft-paste porcelain

Walter Dorwin Teague was one of the first industrial designers in America. In the 1930s, he was introduced by Richard Bach, a curator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, to the Eastman Kodak Company, for which he developed the Bantam Special camera in 1936. One in a line of lightweight cameras manufactured by the company, the Bantam Special combined a number of design elements typical of the era. The horizontal lines drew upon an American focus on streamlining, while the curved edges recalled art moderne. The Bantam was smaller than most cameras of the period, because Kodak had developed a special unperforated film for the Bantam series that required less space than the standard 35 mm sprocketed film. Teague designed the protective clamshell casing, which made the Bantam Special one of the first pocket cameras.

Camera

Walter Dorwin Teague

"Bantam Special"

1936

Metal, enamel

The porcelain made at the Medici workshops in Florence was the first to be produced in Europe. Francesco I de’Medici (1541–1587) established a ceramic workshop in the 1560s with the intention of imitation Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. It took approximately ten years of experimentation before the workshop could manufacture the type of porcelain known as soft-paste. While so-called Medici porcelain lacks the ingredients that comprise hard-paste porcelain as made by the Chinese the Medici potters were able to craft a fine white ceramic body with cobalt decoration that represented an outstanding technical achievement for its time. Technically difficult and expensive to make, Medici porcelain was produced in very small quantities, and manufacture is believed to have ceased, or at least significantly diminished with the death of Francesco in 1587. Only fifty-nine pieces of Medici porcelain are known to have survive, of which one-tenth reside in the Museum's collection.

Ewer

Medici Porcelain Manufactory

Ewer (Brocca)

ca. 1575–80

Soft-paste porcelain

The pieces of this service (1974.356.424–.430) come from one of the most richly decorated Meissen tea and coffee services. The gold background was added after the enamel was fired, either at the factory or in Augsburg, where the gilt-silver mounts were applied. This model was the most commonly produced at Meissen in the 1720s and 1730s. The design of the low octagonal sugar box dates to the earliest years of the factory; this example can be assigned to 1726–27 based on stylistic grounds as well as the factory mark KPM on the base.

Coffeepot

Meissen Manufactory

Coffeepot (part of a service)

1723–26

Hard-paste porcelain and silver-gilt

Relatively little is known of the ceramic artist Mildred Walquist. She was among those ceramists who trained at the Cleveland School and produced sculptural work. Her figure of St. Peter depicts the saint, unusually, as an African American type. She also includes three Black angels in the foreground, disturbingly eating watermelon—a common racist stereotype at the time. Walquist’s sculpture is closely allied with the Cleveland School, especially the work of Viktor Schreckengost. He, too, liked to stage biblical and mythological stories with Black figures, as in a work in The Met’s collection, Shadrach, Meshach, Abendego—the story from the Book of Daniel of three Israelites who braved the fiery furnace of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar rather than bow to an idol. This association of African Americans with religious subjects was common to the period, perhaps partially inspired by the popularity of Black spirituals. As the intricacy of detail suggests in Walquist’s work, the sculpture was hand-modelled, not cast. Like many artists, she took on a teaching position to supplement her income, ultimately leaving ceramic sculpture for jewelry-making.

Statuette

Mildred Walquist

St. Peter with angels eating watermelon

1930–40

Earthenware

The rosary, a fifteen-part prayer developed primarily by the Dominican order, grew in popularity during the fifteenth century. Chains of beads called chaplets or rosaries helped devotees to keep track of the sequence during prayer. Wealthy patrons commissioned beads of the finest craftsmanship and materials, but even at the height of production, beads that open like miniature tabernacles are thought to have been quite rare. The Biblical inscriptions include an exhortation to open the bead and meditate on the scene within: "Attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow" (Lamentations 1:12).

Prayer bead

Half of a Prayer Bead with Jesus Carrying the Cross

early 16th century

Boxwood

The vogue for such Viennese-inspired sculpture was widespread in America. One of the leading exponents of such work was Susi Singer. An Austrian emigré, Singer produced ceramics for the Wiener Werkstatte studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna, under Professor Michael Powolny, and she quickly a leading ceramic artists in Europe, winning awards at world’s fairs including the International Paris Exposition of 1925. Like many artists, she fled Europe in 1937, and soon received a teaching position at the ceramics department at Scripps College in Claremont, California. As can be seen by this figural wall sconce, Singer’s geographical shift did not greatly alter her aesthetic. Its imagery of a young girl in fluttering drapery bespeaks the artist’s earlier Austrian training.

Sconce

Susi Singer

Wall sconce

ca. 1937–50

Earthenware

The della Robbia were a family of Florentine sculptors who were famous for their tin-glazed terracotta relief sculptures. The family expanded the traditional blue and white palette of glazes to a broader range of colors, as seen in the present work, which was produced by the workshop of Giovanni della Robbia. The tondo bears the emblem associated with the church of San Lorenzo in Florence or with its dependency -- the suburban church of San Marco Vecchio. The emblem consists of a cross and two ears of wheat above a gridiron, set in a white-glazed egg-and-dart frame, surrounded by a wreath of fruit, pinecones, and leaves bound with ribbons.

Tondo

Giovanni della Robbia

Tondo

ca. 1500–1520

Tin-glazed terracotta

Obverse, Athena

Panathenaic prize amphora

Euphiletos Painter

Terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora

ca. 530 BCE

Terracotta

This parian figure of a baseball player illustrates the exceptional skill and creativity of Isaac Broome, an important sculptor who designed wares for the Ott and Brewer firm in Trenton, New Jersey. Broome expertly depicted the catcher in action, capturing the moment he catches the ball. The details of the muscular limbs as well as the stitching on the uniform are also exceedingly well rendered. This model matches one of three figures that embellished the large "Baseball Vases" exhibited by Ott and Brewer at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. It is one of the artist’s most iconic works and arguably one of the most important pieces of nineteenth-century American porcelain.

Statuette

Ott and Brewer

Catcher

ca. 1875–76

Parian porcelain

The finest vases from the region of Corinth are generally datable to the seventh century B.C. This dinos, a bowl for the wine diluted with water that was consumed at symposia, is decorated in two zones with large-scale animals. Above, panthers and sphinxes, and below are goats and lions between sphinxes.

Dinos

Polyteleia Painter

Terracotta dinos (mixing bowl)

ca. 630–615 BCE

Terracotta

Prothesis (laying out of the dead); below, horsemen

Loutrophoros

Terracotta loutrophoros (ceremonial vase for water)

late 6th century BCE

Terracotta

Well-connected into the Mughal elite through his own marriage and that of his daughters, Iltifat Khan, the subject of this sensitive portrait, is identified in a Devanagari inscription above. The slightly upward focus of his eye suggests that this drawing could have been a study for a durbar portrait in which the subject would have been shown at court gazing at the emperor along with other nobles.

Illustrated single work

Iltifat Khan

ca. 1640

Brush drawing with pigment on paper

Represented in the guise of a Buddhist monk and devoid of the crown and jewels customarily worn by bodhisattvas, Jizō Bosatsu is among the most readily recognizable of the many deities in the Buddhist pantheon and perhaps the most sympathetic. Called Ksitigarbha ("Earth Womb") in Sanskrit, his worship originated in Central Asia. It reached Japan in the eighth century but flourished during the Kamakura period in connection with the Pure Land sects. Although Jizō is invoked for many roles—as protector of travelers, of children, and of women in childbirth—he was especially venerated for his intervention on behalf of those suffering in hell, the lowest of the Six Realms of Existence. He is portrayed as a monk with an open, compassionate expression ready to hear the call of the suffering. In his hand is a traveler's staff, its six rings a symbol of the extent of his mercy through all realms of being, and its clinking sound a signal of his foot's fall lest he harm even the smallest creature.

Figure

Jizō, Bodhisattva of the Earth Store (Kshitigarbha)

second half 13th century

Wood with lacquer, pigment, and cut gold

Around the lip, pygmies fighting cranes

Aryballos

Nearchos

Terracotta aryballos (oil flask)

ca. 570 BCE

Terracotta