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All That Glitters Is Not Gold: The Art, Form, and Function of Gilt Bronze in the French Interior
Pair of Candlesticks, ca. 1740–50
French
Maker: Juste-Aurèle Meissonier (ca. 1693–1750)
Gilt bronze; H. 12 1/8 in. (30.8 cm); Diam. base 7 3/8 in. (18.7 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1999 (1999.370.1ab-2ab)
Microscope, ca. 1760
Optical elements by Claude-Simeon Passemant (1702–69)
Gilt bronze, blue-green shagreen, parchment tinted green with gold tooling, steel, brass, mahogany, mirror glass, and glass; H. 24 1/4 in. (61.6 cm), W. 10 3/4 in. (27.3 cm), D. 10 3/4 in. (27.3 cm)
Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift and Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, by exchange, 1986 (1986.1a-1d)
Clock, 1775
Clockmaker: Jean-Baptiste Lepaute (1727–1802)
Figures after models by Augustin Pajou (1730–1809)
Gilt bronze, marble; H. 37 in. (94 cm), W. 41 in. (104.1 cm), D. 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm)
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.2126)