SUCRIER A CAFÉ
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
Accession Number
1921-6-404-18
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Henri Sallembier’s 1805 print *Sucrier à Café* offers a glimpse into the refined decorative tastes of early 19th-century France. Active during theonic era, Sallembier worked in a period when printmaking flourished as a means of sharing elegant designs for everyday luxury objects. This work, likely a study or pattern for a coffee service sugar bowl, reflects the Empire style’s emphasis on clean lines and classical motifs that appealed to the rising middle and upper classes. Prints like this one played an important cultural role by making sophisticated ornamentation accessible beyond elite circ...