Design for a Covered Vase
18th century
Medium
Red chalk
Dimensions
sheet: 7 1/8 x 5 3/8 in. (18.1 x 13.7 cm) sheet: 8 1/2 x 6 in. (21.6 x 15.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
Accession Number
49.56.17
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate *Design for a Covered Vase*, created by an anonymous French artist in the 18th, captures the elegance of ornamental design from the Rococo era. Rendered in red chalk on a modest sheet measuring 7 /8 x 5 3/8 inches (18.1 x 13.7 cm)—with an overall mounted size of 81/2 x 6 inches (21.6 x 15.2 cm)—it showcases precise lines and subtle modeling that would guide the crafting of a luxurious covered vase, likely for porcelain, silver, or glass production. Red chalk, or sanguine, was a favored medium in 18th-century France for its warm tone and ability to blend softly, allowing artists ...
About the Artist
Anonymous, French, 18th century · 1700–1800
The artist known as Anonymous, French, 18th century, represents a collective of unidentified talents active roughly between 1700 and 1800, a period of profound artistic evolution in France from the opulent Rococo to the austere dawn of Neoclassicism and Revolutionary fervor. Little is documented about their personal training or mentors, as their anonymity obscures individual biographies, though th...