Mascarade à la Grecque; Suite des Vases; and [Cheminées]

Ennemond Alexandre Petitot

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Book with three sets of plates bound together on red Morocco binding with dark red spine: 'Masquerade à la Grecque', 'Suite des Vases', and 'Cheminées'. The first set, 'Masquerade à la Grecque', dated 1771, consists of 12 plates: the 'avis' (or notes to the reader), one plate of introduction, a title page, and 9 plates numbered 1-10. The second set, 'Suite des Vases', dated 1764, consists of 33 plates: two title pages, a dedication page, and plates numbered 1-31. The last set, untitled, consists of two unnumbered plates of 'Cheminées'. The designs featured in this album have ingenuous shapes with figurative motifs that make up their shapes. In 'Masquerade à la Grecque', elaborate costume designs are made up of creative headdresses and matching garments, decorated with garlands of flowers and leaves, ropes, acanthus leaves, and ornamental patterns often associated with Greek and Roman Antiquity. The 'Suite des Vases' contains a variety of designs for vases of different shapes, some also featuring design motifs inspired on classical times, while others feature simpler figures, with curves and scrolls.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.