Design for Three Vases
ca. 1770–85
Medium
Pen and brown ink, watercolor, and graphite
Dimensions
14 7/8 x 9 1/8 in. (37.8 x 23.2 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
61.680.1.5
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate *Design for Three Vases created by an anonymous French artist around 1770–85, captures the whimsical spirit of Chinoiserie, a popular European style inspired by imagined Chinese aesthetics. The sheet features three ornate vases adorned with blooming flowers, rendered in pen and brown ink for precise outlines, vibrant watercolor washes for lush color, and subtle graphite underdrawing for planning. Measuring about 15 by 9 inches, it exemplifies the preparatory sketches used by designers for luxury decorative arts like porcelain or silverwork. In late 18th-century France, during th...
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...