Design for a Box-Lid
18th century
Medium
Pen with gray and black ink, over graphite underdrawing
Dimensions
2 1/8 x 3 1/16 in. (5.4 x 7.8 cm.)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Fletcher Fund, 1944
Accession Number
44.54.41
Tags
Art Historical Context
Hubert François Gravelot's *Design for a Box-L* captures the playful spirit of 18th-century French rococo design. Created as a preparatory drawing for a decorative box lid—likely a small luxury item like a snuffbox or étui—this intimate scene (just 2 1/8 x 3 1/16 inches) features men and women gathered around a spinning wheel, in lighthearted interaction. Gravelot, a master engraver and illustrator who worked in both Paris and London, infused such designs with elegant whimsy, reflecting the era's fascination with pastoral leisure and flirtatious domesticity amid the opulent rococo style. Exec...
About the Artist
Hubert François Gravelot
Hubert-François Bourguignon, known as Gravelot (1699–1773), was a leading French Rococo engraver, illustrator, and designer whose elegant draftsmanship bridged the artistic worlds of France and England. Born in Paris to a tailor, he adopted his pseudonym from a godfather and grew up alongside his elder brother, the geographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville. After neglecting studies at the Col...