Covered Vase

Covered Vase

Edward Lycett

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Because of its massive size, this Near Eastern–inspired bottle-form vase is one of the most important examples of the Faience Manufacturing Company's work. It may have belonged to the eminent ceramic historian Dr. Edwin AtLee Barber, who acquired a vase of the same size, shape, and decoration at auction in 1910. On the lower body, broad bands of Mazarine blue, a difficult-to-achieve glaze for which the firm was renowned, are painted with powdered gold and gilt vermiculation. On the upper body and neck, raised gold-paste butterflies flutter among chrysanthemums of Far Eastern derivation on an ivory-glazed ground.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.