ART

A group exhibition of European silver and gold objects, most of which have not been on public display, is being exhibited in a new gallery at the J. Paul Getty Museum. The new gallery houses 14 pieces of work, including French and German silversmithing that date from approximately 1540 to 1810. One of the earliest, a 17th-Century Parisian fountain, still bears the hallmark of the silversmith Jean IV Le Roy and the date letter for 1661. The fountain is also one of the rarest pieces because very little French silver of this era survived--the economic pressures of wars during the reign of Louis XIV caused owners of such objects to melt them down for the value of the metal.