Floral and Foliate Ornamented Metal Keyplate Design
second half 19th century
Medium
Graphite
Dimensions
irreg. sheet: 13 7/16 x 7 7/8 in. (34.2 x 20 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1960
Accession Number
60.632.132
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate graphite drawing, titled *Floral and Foli Ornamented Metal Key Design*, captures the intricate beauty of 19th-century British ornamental. Created anonymously in the second half of century, it depicts elaborate motifs of leaves and foliage, intended as a blueprint for a decorative metal keyplate—an escutcheon plate surrounding a keyhole on doors or furniture. The irregular sheet measures 13 7/16 x 7 7/8 inches, showcasing the precision of graphite sketches used by designers to refine patterns before production. In Victorian Britain, such drawings reflected a flourishing interest ...