A New Book of Chinese Ornaments. Invented & Engraved by J. Pillement
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 18 in. × 11 5/8 in. (45.8 × 29.5 cm) Plate: 16 3/4 × 10 5/8 in. (42.5 × 27 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1921
Accession Number
21.91.114
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
This etching presents fanciful chinoiserie ornament combining rococo asymmetry with imagined Chinese decorative motifs. The composition features exotic figures, undulating foliage, architectural elements, and fantastical creatures arranged in the flowing, asymmetrical manner characteristic of rococo design. Pillement's interpretation of Chinese art reflects European imagination rather than authentic observation, creating a hybrid decorative vocabulary that appealed to eighteenth-century taste fo...
About the Artist
Jean Pillement|Robert Sayer · 1728–1808
**Jean-Baptiste Pillement (also known as Jean Pillement)** was a French painter, designer, and engraver born on 24 May 1728 in Lyon, where he also died on 26 April 1808. He became one of the most influential decorative artists of the Rococo period, celebrated for his delicate landscapes and exotic chinoiserie designs that spread across Europe through prints and decorative applications. Pillement ...