The Friends of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts is a special group designed to bring collectors and devotees of the decorative arts into closer contact with the collection and curators of the department. Members gather five to six times per year for behind-the-scenes events, including previews of special exhibitions, study and art-handling sessions in the department's storage vault, lectures by visiting scholars, cocktail receptions, and visits to public and private collections.
Annual dues: $8,000 ($7,338 is tax deductible)
Under-40 annual dues: $5,000 ($4,338 is tax deductible)
For more information please call 212-570-3922 or email esda.friends@metmuseum.org.
Highlights of Past Events
- Cocktail reception and curatorial tour of the exhibition Vienna Circa 1780, followed by a concert featuring the music of Haydn and Schubert in The Kirtlington Park Room
- Behind-the-scenes tour of the Antonio Ratti Textile Center, including a curator-led study session on tapestries
- Lecture by visiting scholar Selma Schwartz on Etienne-François, duc de Choiseul (1719–1785), and cocktail reception in The Wrightsman Galleries
Above: Sèvres Manufactory (1740–present). Teapot, 1832–34. French (Sèvres). Hard-paste porcelain, silver, ivory; 7 1/4 x 5 1/16 in. (18.4 x 12.9 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Louis V. Bell Fund and Friends of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Gifts, 2007 (2007.408a, b)
