Design for the Decoration of the Lower Right Corner of a Ceiling, Plate 4 from: 'Unterschiedliche neü inventirte Decken oder Plafond.'
Printed ca. 1750–56
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Overall: 8 7/16 × 13 3/4 in. (21.5 × 35 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ornament & Architecture|Albums
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Daniel Ergmann Gift, 2014
Accession Number
2014.97.58
Tags
Art Historical Context
This etching by Carl Pier and Martin Engelbrecht captures the exuberant spirit of mid-eighteenth-century European ornament. Created around 1750–56 as Plate 4 in the album *Unterschiedliche neü inventirte Decken oder Plafond*, the print offers a detailed design for the lower right corner of a ceiling. Rendered in the precise lines of etching, it showcases swirling motifs and fantastical creatures—most notably dragons—that would have enlivened grand interiors in palaces or civic buildings. Such ornamental pattern books played a vital role in the Rococo era, allowing architects and craftsmen acr...
About the Artist
Carl Pier|Martin Engelbrecht (German|German) · 1684 |1700 –1756 |1790
German, Augsburg 1684–1756 Augsburg|German, active Augsburg, ca. 1750