Artwork Page for Persian Flowers

Details / Information for Persian Flowers

Persian Flowers

1755
(French, 1728–1808)
Medium
etching
Measurements
Plate: 30.8 x 20.7 cm (12 1/8 x 8 1/8 in.); Sheet: 42.7 x 28.3 cm (16 13/16 x 11 1/8 in.)
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

The artist Jean Baptiste Pillement was employed by Marie Antoinette to create decorations for her legendary retreat, the Petit Trianon, at Versailles.

Description

Jean Baptiste Pillement was one of the most influential designers of the Rococo period, known for his varied and prolific chinoiseries (European variants of Chinese and Japanese motifs). His designs were spread throughout Europe primarily via their translation into prints. This print is one of a set of six etched by Pillement himself. Each depicts a so-called “Persian” flower, largely fantasies, presenting strange, alienlike floral forms that could be adapted to various uses from textiles to wall decorations.
A vertically oriented etching depicts stylized botanical forms in black ink on beige paper. From a central stem, a large, three-petaled flower with ruffled edges blooms, its smaller companion resting to the right. Arched, fuzzy seed pods curve toward the left, while a branch with small blossoms extends across the lower foreground. A faint rectangular indentation frames the composition on the irregular-edged paper.

Persian Flowers

1755

Jean Baptiste Pillement

(French, 1728–1808)
France, 18th century

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