Parasol Top Phaeton #973

Art Historical Context

This delicate drawing captures a Parasol Top Phaeton, model #973, a graceful open carriage designed for leisurely drives in the late nineteenth century. Created around 1870 by Brewster & Co., America’s leading carriage manufacturer, in collaboration with artist Channing Britton, the work served as both a technical record and a presentation piece. The phaeton’s elegant lines, lightweight frame, and distinctive parasol canopy reflect the era’s emphasis on refined personal transport, when such vehicles signaled wealth and taste among America’s growing urban elite. Executed in pen and black ink with watercolor and gouache heightened by gum arabic, the drawing achieves luminous color and crisp detail within its modest sheet size. This mixed-media technique allowed designers to convey the sheen of lacquered wood, the texture of upholstery, and the play of light on metal fittings—qualities essential for attracting clients. Brewster & Co. produced thousands of custom carriages; surviving design drawings like this one offer rare glimpses into the collaborative process between draftsmen and master coachbuilders. Today housed in the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of Drawings and Prints, the sheet preserves both the artistry and engineering of a vanished mode of transportation. Its careful rendering invites viewers to appreciate how functional objects were elevated to works of design.

About the Artist

Brewster & Co.|Channing Britton · 1837–present

**Brewster & Co.** Brewster & Company, a premier American coachbuilder renowned for its exquisite carriage designs, was established in 1810 in New Haven, Connecticut, by James Brewster (1788–1866). Born in 1788, Brewster trained as a wagonmaker's apprentice starting at age 16 in Northampton, Massachusetts, before relocating to New Haven, where he set up his workshop and quickly gained acclaim for...