Metal Keyplate for Church
second half 19th century
Medium
Gouache
Dimensions
sheet: 3 3/4 x 2 5/16 in. (9.6 x 5.8 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
60.632.148(1)
Art Historical Context
This delicate gouache drawing, titledMetal Keyplate for Church offers a glimpse into 19th-century British ecclesiastical design. Created anonymously in the second half of the century, it a finely wrought metal keyplate—likely an escutcheon or door fitting for a church door. Measuring just 3 3/4 x 2 5/16 inches, its intimate scale suggests it served as a precise preparatory study for a metalworker or architect, preserved in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Elisha Whittelsey Collection. Gouache, an opaque watercolor medium prized for its vibrant colors and smooth finish, was ideal for rendering...