Designs for Two Porcelain Vases
ca. 1770–85
Medium
Pen and brown ink, watercolor, and graphite
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
61.680.1.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate drawing, *Designs for Two Por Vases*, captures the of 18th-century ornamental design. Created anonymously around 1770–85, it features intricate motifs of blooming flowers and graceful human figures adorning two vase forms. Such preparatory sketches were essential for the luxury porcelain industry, guiding artisans at renowned manufactories like Sèvres crafting opulent decorative objects for aristocratic homes. Rendered in pen and brown ink with watercolor and graphite on paper (14 7/8 x 9 3/16 in.), the work showcases a refined mixed-media technique. The precise ink lines define...
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...