Friezes with Birds, Flowers and Meandering Wreaths and Scrolls (7)

Friezes with Birds, Flowers and Meandering Wreaths and Scrolls (7)

Theodor Bang

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Frieze made up out of two parts. The upper tier is a narrow horizontal frieze with a symmetrical decorative pattern made up out meandering stylized vegetal rinceaux. Below is a wider field with rinceaux running along the upper border and two sides. In the middle is a motif with two flowers and simple strapwork. On either side of this motif, a bird is placed on a seperate rinceau. The birds are turned away from each other, but are looking back to meet each other’s gaze over their wings.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Friezes with Birds, Flowers and Meandering Wreaths and Scrolls (7)Friezes with Birds, Flowers and Meandering Wreaths and Scrolls (7)Friezes with Birds, Flowers and Meandering Wreaths and Scrolls (7)Friezes with Birds, Flowers and Meandering Wreaths and Scrolls (7)Friezes with Birds, Flowers and Meandering Wreaths and Scrolls (7)

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.