Book cover with overall paisley, dot, and stripe pattern
19th century
Medium
Relief print (wood or metal)
Dimensions
Sheet: 9 15/16 × 16 7/16 in. (25.2 × 41.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of D. Lorraine Yerkes, 1961
Accession Number
61.651.41
Art Historical Context
This vibrant 19th-century book, featuring an all-over paisley, dot, and stripe pattern, exemplifies the decorative exuberance of Victorian-era design. Produced anonymously as a relief print—likely from wood or metal—the sheet measures 9 15/16 × 16 7/16 inches (25.2 × 41.8 cm), perfectly sized for binding onto books. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum Art's Drawings and Prints, it was generously gifted by D. Lorraine Yerkes 1961. Relief printing, a technique where ink adheres to raised surfaces carved from blocks, allowed for efficient mass production during the Industrial Revolution. This meth...
About the Artist
Anonymous
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...