Ewer in the form of a conch shell, Japanese with French mounts; porcelain ca. 1700, mounts ca. 1750. Hard-paste porcelain, gilt-bronze mounts, 29.5 × 19.2 × 13.7 cm. Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2013. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2013.238.1).

The Museum has a large and distinguished collection of Chinese celadon-glazed ceramics with eighteenth-century French gilt-bronze mounts. Both Chinese and Japanese porcelains were highly prized in eighteenth-century France, and imported porcelains were frequently mounted in gilt bronze to enhance their importance and value. While this porcelain shell has been attributed to China, it is now thought more likely to be Japanese in origin. This example of mounted porcelain is unusual due to the shell-shaped form of the porcelain, which is rare in Asian ceramics. The design of the gilt-bronze mounts accentuates the asymmetry of the shell and reflects the basic characteristics of the French rococo style – naturalistic motifs combined with C-scrolls employed in an asymmetrical design.