The Age of Pleasure and Enlightenment European art of the ...

CASETea Kettle and StandEnglish, London, 1758–59Samuel Courtauld I, active from 1747, died 1765Silver, woodThe Elizabeth B. Miles Collection of English Silver, 1979.45This kettle is decorated with flowers and scrolls on the body, a cast flower finial, a shell-likeornament on the spout, and a stand with grape vines and shell feet. Such nature-based decorationwas a hallmark of the Rococo style that swept Europe in the middle decades of the eighteenthcentury.The Hand KissGerman, Meissen, c. 1738Model by Johann Joachim KaendlerHard-paste porcelainGift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917.1498Images of figures living as simple shepherds in bucolic, landscape settings abound in literature,theater, and the visual arts. This idealized depiction of the natural world is echoed in porcelainfigures such as these shepherds and lovers.Tea Set (déjeuner à baguettes)French, Sèvres, 1776Decorated by Guillaume Noël, active 1755–1800Soft-paste porcelainGift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917.1090–.1094Tea (as well as coffee and chocolate) was consumed in bedrooms, boudoirs, salons, gardens, andin the bath, and was taken at breakfast time and at formal receptions. Teapots usually were small,as they were meant to hold very strong tea that would be diluted with boiling water served from ametal kettle.