Clef en armoirie et avec tete
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
Accession Number
1921-6-254-60
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Juste-François Boucher (6–1782), son of the renowned Rococo painter François Boucher was a skilled French engraver whose intricate prints captured the ornate elegance of 18th-century arts. Created around 1775, *Clef en armoirie et avec tête*—translating to "Key in Heraldry and with Head"—depicts a symbolic key featured in coat-of-arms designs, blending utility with noble symbolism. As a print in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection, it reflects the era's fascination with heraldry, where keys often represented authority, access to sacred spaces, or guardianship in aristocratic emblems...