Design for a brooch with a bird motif
19th century
Medium
Gouache on cardboard
Dimensions
sheet: 10 5/8 x 8 7/8 in. (27 x 22.6 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.608.98
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite *Design for a Brooch with a Bird Mot*, created by an anonymous French artist in the19th century, captures elegance of period jewelry design. Rendered in gouache on cardboard—a favored for its opaque, vibrant colors and precise application—this preparatory drawing measures 10 5/8 x 8 7/8 inches. The bird motif, delicately rendered, evokes the naturalism popular in French decorative arts, where avian forms symbolized grace and freedom in wearable adornments. In 19th-century France, such designs were essential blueprints for jewelers, bridging fine art and craftsmanship amid the e...
About the Artist
Anonymous, French, 19th century · 1800–1900
**Anonymous, French, 19th Century (ca. 1800–1900)** The artist cataloged as Anonymous, French, 19th century embodies the enigmatic yet essential contributions of unidentified creators to France's vibrant 19th-century art world. Active roughly between 1800 and 1900, this figure—or potentially collective workshop—produced a diverse array of works amid the nation's transition from Neoclassicism thro...