Design for a Vase
ca. 1770–85
Medium
Watercolor, and graphite
Dimensions
6 1/8 x 4 1/8 in. (15.6 x 10.4 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Raphael Esmerian, 1961
Accession Number
61.680.1.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate *Design for a Vase created by an anonymous French artist around 1770–85, offers a glimpse into the refined world of 18th-century decorative arts. Rendered in watercolor and graphite on a modest 6 1/8 x 4 1/8 in. sheet, it exemplifies the preparatory sketches used by designers for luxury objects like porcelain or silver vases. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department ( of Raphael Esmerian 1961), this falls under the classification of Ornament & Architecture highlighting its role in shaping opulent interiors during the Louis XVI era. In late 18th-c...
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...