Design for a Frieze with a Censer, Sphinxes and Acanthus Scrolls
ca. 1760–80
Medium
Pen and brown and gray ink, with colored wash, heightened with white
Dimensions
1 11/16 x 11 13/16 in. (4.3 x 30. cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1969
Accession Number
69.690.3
Tags
Art Historical Context
Gilles Paul Cauvet's *Design for a Frieze a Censer, Sphinx and Acanthus Scrolls*ca. 1760–80) is a exquisite preparatory drawing from the height of French neoclassicism. This compact sheet (1 11/16 x 11 13/16 in.) captures an ornate architectural frieze featuring a central censer—an incense burner symbolizing ritual and luxury—flanked by mythical sphinx and flowing acanthus scrolls. These motifs draw from ancient Egyptian and Greco-Roman sources, revived in 18th-century Europe to evoke grandeur and antiquity amid the opulent interiors of royal palaces and aristocratic homes. Cauvet, a leading ...
About the Artist
Gilles Paul Cauvet
Comment on works: Architect; Sculptor; Ornamental draughtsman