Sheet with overall lattice pattern with rosettes
19th century
Medium
Relief print (wood or metal)
Dimensions
Sheet: 6 1/8 × 3 3/8 in. (15.6 × 8.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1939
Accession Number
39.13.261
Art Historical Context
This delicate sheet showcases an anonymous 19th-century relief print featuring an overall lattice pattern adorned with rosettes, a timeless motif evoking woven textiles or intricate lacework. Measuring just 6 1/8 × 3 3/8 inches (15.6 × 8.5 cm), its compact size suggests it served as a design sample or pattern template, ideal for reproduction in wallpaper, fabric, or bookbinding. Crafted via relief printing—likely from wood or metal blocks—the raised surface allowed ink to transfer cleanly, enabling efficient mass production of decorative repeats during the Industrial Revolution. In the Metrop...
About the Artist
Anonymous
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...