Dolphin Fountain Element
18th century
Medium
Pen and ink
Dimensions
sheet: 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (14 x 8.9 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Exchange, Royal Institute of British Architects, 1960
Accession Number
60.724.108
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite pen and ink drawing, titled *Dolphin Fountain Element*, captures a whimsical architectural motif from 18th-century Britain. Created anonymously by a skilled draughtsman, the compact sheet measures just 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches (14 x 8.9 cm), making it a perfect example of the precise preparatory sketches used by architects and designers of the era. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department and classified under Ornament & Architecture, it entered the collection via an exchange with the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1960. In the Georgian per...