Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Dish
Not on view
This dish demonstrates a mastery of the complex techniques involved in combing niello and copper. Described in firm records as "Medallion Head style Henry 2d," with a significant wholesale cost of $825, it featured prominently in Tiffany’s display at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. The dish echoes East and West Asian inlaid mixed-metal objects while adopting imagery inspired by Renaissance France. The decoration refers to a 1678 novel, La Princesse de Clèves, set at the court of Henry II. The princess, whose appearance and dress here combine French, Indian, and Persian qualities, is torn between duty to her deceased husband and love for the duc de Nemours; his House of Savoie interlaced knot symbol ornaments the lower rim.
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