365 Days at the Met

November  18, 2019 Gallery 540 contains an assortment of small 18th century objects - porcelain snuff boxes, a porcelain and bronze assemblage depicting a bird and a Chinaman (I kid you not- that's how the label reads),  a mother-of-pearl and gold box fitted with a thimble and other items for sewing - and, incongruously, a small but fine portrait of a young man by Rubens (Maybe it was part of a collection willed to the Met under the condition that all the heirlooms be exhibited together?) Most of the items come from the German states or from Russia. The object that intrigues me, however, was made n England around 1760-1770 and is descibed as an "automaton." About 16 inches long, perhaps 6 inches at its highest point, and made of gilt bronze inlaid with brilliants,  it shows an elaborate chariot being drawn by four spirited horses, presumably in a triumphal procession. Three warrior figures wearing plumed helmets and equipped with swords ride the chariot: anot...

November 13, 2019 Gallery 539 is yet another period room of 18th century French furniture- fancy, fussy, gilded, and, except for a couple of bonheur du jour small desks, altogether not to my taste. Equally fancy and fussy are the porcelain candelabras that line the walls. Really, what kind of modern sensibility responds to this stuff? That said, I do find interesting a table with a black-and-gold Japanese lacquer rectangle repurposed as its top, both because the lacquer, though not the table itself, strikes me as quite beautiful and because the piece shows the desire of the furniture-maker to incorporate foreign, "exotic" art into his creation. What I do like is a portrait, perhaps 28 inches high and 24 inches wide, of the Marquise Perrin de Cypierre, painted by Jean-Marc Nattier in 1753. The figure is presented from the waist up; her torso is turned away from the viewer, but her head turns back to look out at us. Her left elbow rests on a table, while in her plump l...

November 11, 2019 Gallery 538 contains several display cases of 18th-crntury  statuettes and other small objects of porcelain, mostly from what is now Germany but also from Sevres, Capodimonte, and Saint Petersburg. A few items have religious themes, but most are secular: hunters, dancers, numerous Harlequins and Columbines, and so on. A number, too, show Chinese characters and Moors. It would be easy to characterize these merely as representing Europeans' fanciful, stereotyped views of people from other cultures, and they do. But I think they also give evidence of a burgeoning curiosity about the wider world. Most of the objects are purely decorative in nature. But I'm struck by a rather silly pair of women wearing rounded hats and sitting astride roosters. made in Meissen. They turn out to be oil or vinegar cruets. Presumably, the hats could be removed to pour in the liquids, the roosters' open beaks served as pouring spouts, and their curving tails provided handl...