Design for Two Vases
ca. 1770–85
Medium
Pen and brown ink, and watercolor
Dimensions
14 7/8 x 9 3/16 in. (37.8 x 23.3 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
61.680.1.6
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate *Design for Two Vases created by an anonymous French artist around 1770–85, showcases the elegance of late 18th-century ornamental. Rendered in pen and brown ink with watercolor on a sheet measuring 14 7/8 x 9 3/16 inches, it features two elegantly shaped vases adorned with motifs of cranes, blooming flowers, and scrolling leaves. These intricate patterns reflect the refined decorative tastes of the Louis XVI era, bridging Rococo exuberance and emerging Neoclassicism, when such drawings served as blueprints for luxury porcelain, silver, or furniture. As a work from the Metropoli...
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...