Pair of seated figures with globes

Chantilly

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Asian countries were a source of considerable fascination and allure to Europeans. Asian figures were frequently chosen as subjects to decorate ceramics and other works of art produced in Europe, but these depictions were rarely based on firsthand knowledge and thus were usually fanciful. This figure of a Chinese man seated with a globe was intended to be decorative, but also may allude to China’s sophisticated understanding of astronomy during this period.

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