From the archives, an Object of the Day post on a Sèvres porcelain now on view in Tablescapes: Designs for Dining.

“May there always be sunshine, May there always be sky, May there always be Mama, May there always be me.” The poem "May There Always Be Sunshine," was one of the most beguiling verses of the Soviet era. Written in 1928 by a four-year-old boy, Konstantin Barannikov, the poem illustrates the conflation of mother and...

This etching, a screen design by great artist François Boucher, is iconic for its inclusion of the French word rocaille. In the eighteenth century, rocaille referred to the irregular rockwork that was used to embellish picturesque grottos and garden fountains but the word has since come to be synonymous with the rococo as a style....

Two dangerous looking brigands stand at attention, ready to spring into action; their brightly colored cloaks flap in the wind. The energetic tension of these figures, their exotic appeal and wildly patterned textiles are all signature traits of work by the great costume and stage set designer Léon Bakst. The Jewish Russian artist began designing...

Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695 –1750) is recognized as a creative genius behind the French Rococo style. He first published his influential Livre d’Ornements (Book of Ornaments) in 1734 and then again in 1748. These small booklets were circulated among countless craftsmen and artisans who applied Meissonier’s designs to decorative artwork such as ceramics, metalwork, marquetry, and...