Design for the "Cahier de Balençoires Chinoises"
1770
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View on museum website →Medium
Black chalk, with stumping, framing lines in pen and brown ink
Dimensions
Sheet: 11 7/8 × 8 1/8 in. (30.2 × 20.6 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Frits and Rita Markus Fund, 2023
Accession Number
2023.208
Art Historical Context
Jean Pillement's *Design for the "Cier de Balençoiresinoises"* (1770) captures the whimsical spirit of 18th-century chinoiserie, a European fascination with imagined Chinese motifs. Created during the late Rococo era, when ornate, playful designs adorned palaces and furnishings across France and beyond, this drawing likely served as a preparatory study for a notebook (*cahier*) of ornamental patterns swings—elegant, fantastical scenes blending exotic fantasy with decorative elegance. Pillement, a master of Rococo ornamentation, drew inspiration from Asian imports and travelogues, infusing his ...