Cartouche with Bird and Putti, Plate B
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt
Accession Number
1931-94-643
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Alexis Peyrotte’s “Cartouche with Bird and Putti, Plate B” offers a charming glimpse into eighteenth-century French decorative design. Created around 1740, this print exemplifies the elegant ornamental language that flourished during the reign of Louis XV. Peyrotte, a skilled draftsman and designer, produced such works as models for artisans working in textiles, ceramics, and interior decoration. The composition centers on a fanciful cartouche—an elaborate scrolled frame—animated by playful putti and a lively bird. These motifs were immensely popular in Rococo ornament, where lightness, asymmetry, and natural detail combined to create a sense of graceful movement. As a print, the work could be widely circulated among craftsmen, allowing Peyrotte’s inventive designs to influence objects far beyond his Paris studio. Now part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection through the generosity of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt, the sheet reminds us how prints served as vital bridges between fine art and the applied arts in the eighteenth century.