Plate 4, from "Desseins de Brasiers dont les Ornements peuuent Seruir aux Cuuettes, Tables, et autres Ouurages d'Orfeurerie"

Plate 4, from "Desseins de Brasiers dont les Ornements peuuent Seruir aux Cuuettes, Tables, et autres Ouurages d'Orfeurerie"

Alexis Loir

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 4 of a series of designs for braziers, tables and other silverware works. The main design on the left side is supported by child half figure holding an eagle behind him. The other brazier designs on the same side feature a dragon, upper design, and a winged lion holding a garland in its mouth, lower design. On the right side, the main design features a male half figure holding a snake. The other designs on that side feature a goat, upper design, and a pensive half figure, lower design. Finally, there are grotesque masks on both sides.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 4, from "Desseins de Brasiers dont les Ornements peuuent Seruir aux Cuuettes, Tables, et autres Ouurages d'Orfeurerie"Plate 4, from "Desseins de Brasiers dont les Ornements peuuent Seruir aux Cuuettes, Tables, et autres Ouurages d'Orfeurerie"Plate 4, from "Desseins de Brasiers dont les Ornements peuuent Seruir aux Cuuettes, Tables, et autres Ouurages d'Orfeurerie"Plate 4, from "Desseins de Brasiers dont les Ornements peuuent Seruir aux Cuuettes, Tables, et autres Ouurages d'Orfeurerie"Plate 4, from "Desseins de Brasiers dont les Ornements peuuent Seruir aux Cuuettes, Tables, et autres Ouurages d'Orfeurerie"

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.