Asia and Africa

Art Historical Context

**Asia and Africa** (ca. 1750–60), a delicate soft-paste porcelain figurine by Friedrich Elias Meyer, just 8 inches tall and captures the whimsical elegance of mid-18th-century French arts. Crafted during the height of Europe's porcelain mania, this piece likely personifies the continents through playful children accompanied by lions—evident from its tags—symbolizing exotic realms in a Rococo spirit of fantasy and global curiosity. Now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department, it was a generous gift from the Estate of James Hazen Hyde in 1959. Soft-paste porcelain, a French specialty before the mastery of harder Chinese-style formulas, allowed for intricate modeling and vibrant glazing, making such small-scale sculptures prized luxuries for aristocratic tables and cabinets. Meyer's work reflects the era's technical innovation at manufactories like Vincennes or Sèvres, where porcelain rivaled silver in refinement. These continent figures were popular conversation pieces, blending Enlightenment exploration with artistic delight, inviting viewers to ponder distant worlds through cherubic innocence and majestic beasts. This charming artifact not only showcases Meyer's sculptural finesse but also embodies France's cultural prestige in ceramics, bridging art and everyday opulence in the opulent salons of the Ancien Régime.

About the Artist

Friedrich Elias Meyer · 1723–1785

Friedrich Elias Meyer der Ältere (1723–1785) was a prominent German sculptor and porcelain modeler whose career bridged the glittering Rococo era's fascination with delicate, ornate figurines and grand table services. Born in Erfurt to sculptor Matthias Meyer, he grew up in Gotha after his father's early death and began his apprenticeship in 1737 under court sculptor Michael Grünbeck. By 1741, Mey...