Ornamental Trophy Designs
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
Accession Number
1921-6-458-21
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
**Ornamental Trophy Designs** by Théoodore Bertren, an artist active in 18th-century France, dates to 1771 and exemplifies the era's fascination with elaborate decorative motifs. As a print in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection—purchased by the Advisory Council—this work likely served as a visual catalog of trophy designs, those symbolic assemblages of attributes like laurels, shields, and allegorical emblems popular in architecture, furniture, and silverwork. Bertren's output reflects the refined ornamental tradition of Louis XV's France, where such patterns bridged opulent Roco...