Sheet with overall pattern of petals
19th century
Medium
Relief print (wood or metal)
Dimensions
Sheet: 7 15/16 × 4 15/16 in. (20.2 × 12.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1939
Accession Number
39.13.280
Art Historical Context
This delicate sheet features an overall pattern of petals, a charming example of 19th-century anonymous printmaking from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints collection. Created as a relief print—likely from wood or metal blocks—the design showcases the precision of raised-surface printing, where ink adheres only to elevated areas, producing crisp, repeating motifs ideal for decorative applications like textiles, wallpapers, or book covers. Measuring just 7 15/16 × 4 15/16 inches, its compact size hints at its use as a sample or pattern template. In the 19th century, amid the ...
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...