Design for a Valance with Thin Garlands and Bundles of Flowers and a Lyre Inside an Ornamental Frame with Scrolling Motifs Presenting Two Different Variations for the Design
1870–1900 (?)
Medium
Watercolor
Dimensions
Sheet: 16 5/8 × 10 1/2 in. (42.2 × 26.6 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
Accession Number
49.50.195
Art Historical Context
This delicate watercolor design, created by an anonymous French artist around 1870–1900, showcases two variations for a valance—a decorative textile border often used above windows or beds to add elegance to interiors. Titled *Design for a Valance Thin Garlands and Bund of Flowers and a Ly Inside an Ornamental with Scrolling Motifs it captures the ornate aesthetic of late 19th decorative arts, blending floral garlands, bundled flowers, and a classical lyre symbolizing harmony and the muses within intricate scrolling frames. Rendered in watercolor on a modest sheet (16 5/8 × 10 1/2 in.), the p...
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...