Kouriliens from playing cards "Jeu d'Or"
Medium
Etching and hand coloring (watercolor)
Dimensions
3 3/16 × 2 1/16 in. (8.1 × 5.3 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of the Estate of James Hazen Hyde, 1959
Accession Number
59.654.14(15)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the whimsical world of 18th French gaming with *Kouriliens from cards "Jeu d"*, a delicate etching hand-colored with watercolor by an anonymous artist around 1700–99. just 3 3/16 × 2 1/16 inches, this petite print was designed as part of a luxurious deck known as "Jeu d'Or" (Golden Game), evoking the opulent gaming culture of the French court and aristocracy. Etching allowed for intricate lines and fine details, while the vibrant hand-applied watercolor brought the figures—depicting men and women in period attire—to vivid life, transforming a simple card into a miniature work of orna...
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...