Arabesque Panel Design
Classification
Bound print
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
Accession Number
1921-6-204-8
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
**Arabesque Panel Design** by Gilles-Paul Cauvet (French, 1731–1788), created in 1777, the exquisite ornamental designs that defined late 18th-century French decorative arts. Cauvet, a renowned Parisian designer and engraver, specialized in intricate patterns for furniture, wall panels, and interiors, bridging the lavish Rococo style with emerging Neoclassicism. This bound print, likely from one of his pattern books, captures an arabesque motif—a sinuous, interlacing arrangement of foliage, scrolls, and fantastical elements inspired by Renaissance grotesques and Islamic decorative traditions. ...