Object Image

Ewer and basin

For the Sèvres porcelain factory, the years of the French Revolution were difficult ones. The majority of the aristocratic clientele that had traditionally purchased its products were either killed or driven into exile, and the demand for luxury products such as porcelain was much diminished in the ruinous economy created by the Revolution. Despite these challenges, however, the Sèvres factory managed to survive, and some of its most original products date from this period. This ewer and basin reflect several stylistic currents at the forefront of fashion in the last decade of the eighteenth century. The spare, elegant lines of both the ewer and basin embody the austerity of the most up-to-date...
1795
Hard-paste porcelain
10.0in
2004.158a, b
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019

Where you'll find this

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection