Large Bronze Dragon Incense Burner

Henri-Charles Guérard

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Guérard made this etching as an illustration for Louis Gonse's two-volume book "L'Art Japonais" (1883), the first significant scholarly study of Japanese art published in French. Guérard contributed eleven etchings and 220 drawings to the project based on objects in renowned Parisian collections. This bronze dragon incense burner came from the collection of Henri Cernuschi (1821–1896), a banker who acquired 5,000 works of art during his travels in Japan and China in the early 1870s. Gonse wrote of the illustration: "M. Guérard has pit his strength against the monster. His feverish [etching] needle has translated well its epic energy." Japanese aesthetics continued to influence Guérard's printmaking for the remainder of his career.

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art