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“Study for a Cartouche,” by Pierre Edmè Babel (French, 1720–1775), pen and brown ink, brush and brown and gray wash, 157/16 by 103/8 inches. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Anne and Carl Stern Gift.

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FRICK COLLECTION EXTENDS STAY FOR ‘ROCOCO EXOTIC’ TO FALL w/1 cut

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NEW YORK CITY — “Rococo Exotic: French Mounted Porcelains and the Allure of the East” has been extended through September 9, The Frick Collections announced.

In 1915 Henry Clay Frick acquired a fine group of Eighteenth century objets d’art to complete the décor of his new home at 1 East 70th Street. Among these was a striking pair of large mounted porcelains, the subject of the acclaimed decorative arts focus presentation currently on view in the Cabinet gallery.

“Rococo Exotic: French Mounted Porcelains and the Allure of the East” is the museum’s first ceramics exhibition in 15 years. Quintessentially French, the jars fuse Eighteenth Century French collectors’ love of rare Asian porcelains with their enthusiasm for natural exotica. Assembled in Paris shortly before 1750, the Frick jars are a hybrid of imported Chinese porcelain and French gilt-bronze mounts in the shape of bulrushes (curling long the handles) and shells, sea fans, corals, and pearls (on the lids).

Displayed alongside these objects are French drawings and prints as well as actual seashells and corals, all from New York collections. Together, the objects illustrate the convergence of the natural and the humanly wrought in the production of such luxury wares and probe the fascination with the exotic that lies at the heart of rococo design. The exhibition, which opened on March 6, was organized by Kristel Smentek, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow.

“While Henry Clay Frick’s eye as a collector of paintings has been a major focus of scholarship and public attention for decades, his taste for the decorative arts — particularly Chinese ceramic objects — has received somewhat less attention,” said Director Anne L. Poulet. “Not since the 1992 installation of blue and white porcelain from the estate of Childs Frick have we created an exhibition and publication devoted to the ceramic arts.”

The cobalt blue porcelains were produced in China in the first half of the Eighteenth Century, when dense, homogeneous monochrome glazing was perfected. Because porcelains glazed with a single color were manufactured primarily for the domestic Chinese market, relatively few of them made their way to France in the Eighteenth Century. Those that did were particularly prized and especially costly. Originally, the Frick porcelains were probably tall vases or jars but, on their arrival in Paris, they were cut — at the neck and again at the shoulder — to form lidded jars.

In their reliance on natural forms, these objects are fine exemplars of rococo design, which emerged in Paris in the 1720s and remained in vogue until the 1750s. Eighteenth Century artists and collectors were fascinated by nature’s wonders, especially shells, the most spectacular of which were believed to come from the East (like porcelains).

The Frick Collection is at 1 East 70th Street, near Fifth Avenue. For information, 212-288-0700 or www.frick.org.