Designs for Ornamental Arabesque Motifs1770
Top left, a mask of a human figure with horns from which are suspended tassels. Under it, a nude female figure seen frontally, seated on a sheet held in both hands, arms extended. More about this work
About this work
Top left, a mask of a human figure with horns from which are suspended tassels. Under it, a nude female figure seen frontally, seated on a sheet held in both hands, arms extended. Upper right, a motif showing a nude trumpeter standing on a rinceau, and beside him a putto astride a unicorn, and below, another putto carrying a banner. Center left, a winged herm supporting a shelf. Center, a winged terminal figure seen frontally. Lower left, two vases, one in the form of a pitcher whose handle terminates in a human figure who pours liquid into the vase over his shoulder. Lower right, two winged genii flank a medallion showing a putto seated by an urn, and below, two putti embrace over paired volutes flanking a medallion but portrait.
Text from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
How it was made
- Watercolour
- Pigment in gum arabic, thinned with water and laid in transparent washes. Nothing white is painted: the light is the paper showing through.
- Graphite
- Pencil. Graphite has been used for drawing since the 1500s; in 1795 Nicolas-Jacques Conté mixed it with clay, so its hardness could be graded.
- Pen and ink
- Drawn with a quill or reed pen, often with wash added by brush to model light and shadow.
Etienne de Lavallée-Poussin
French, 1735–1802
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1911-28-199
- Credit
- Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
- Type
- Drawings
- Department
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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Close in colour
