Design for 2 Seat Victoria Sleigh, no. 3548
1879
Medium
Pen, black ink, watercolor and gouache with gum arabic
Dimensions
sheet: 6 13/16 x 9 1/4 in. (17.3 x 23.5 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William Brewster, 1923
Accession Number
23.112.1228
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate design drawing from 1879 captures the elegance of a two-seat Victoria sleigh, model no. 3548, by the renowned New York coachmakers Brewster & Co. Rendered on a modest sheet measuring just 6 13/16 x 9 1/4 inches, it exemplifies the precision of 19th-century industrial design during America's Gilded Age, when luxurious sleighs were prized symbols of wealth and social status. Victoria sleighs, with their graceful curves and open seating, evoked European aristocratic traditions while adapting to snowy American winters. Executed in pen and black ink with watercolor, gouache, and gum ...
About the Artist
Brewster & Co.
**Brewster & Co.** Brewster & Company, a premier American coachbuilder renowned for its exquisite carriage designs, was established in 1810 in New Haven, Connecticut, by James Brewster (1788–1866). Born in 1788, Brewster trained as a wagonmaker's apprentice starting at age 16 in Northampton, Massachusetts, before relocating to New Haven, where he set up his workshop and quickly gained acclaim for...