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Object Timeline
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1931 |
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Drawing, Chinoiserie Fantasy
This is a Drawing. It was created by Jean-Baptiste Pillement. It is dated 1770–90 and we acquired it in 1931. Its medium is graphite on white laid paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.
Ships, precariously tethered to mountain tops by garlands, hover over a landscape of pure fantasy in this graphite drawing by the French artist Jean-Baptiste Pillement (1728-1808). Pillement was a prolific artist who worked internationally and was known for his imaginative chinoiserie designs (European variants of Japanese and Chinese motifs). The landscape displays the influence of poetic Chinese literati paintings popular in China during the Song dynasties. In Pillement’s composition, a group of fishermen are seated by an alien plant composed of spirals and amoeba-like shapes. Behind are two pagodas and in the far background are hazy mountain ranges and temples and pagodas on grotto-like rock formations. On top are two boats with Chinese parasols—one with eagle wings and the other with dragon wings. The floating boats reflect a fascination with aeronautics as popularized through Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão (1685-1724), a Portuguese naturalist who experimented with airship designs in early 1700s. Although this particular design doesn’t appear to have been reproduced in print, many of his compositions engraved into pattern books that were subsequently adapted widely on textiles, wallpapers, and other decorative arts.
This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled When Ships Fly.
This object was
donated by
Eleanor Garnier Hewitt and Sarah Cooper Hewitt.
It is credited Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt from the collection of Mrs. Abram S. Hewitt.
- Textile (France)
- silk, metallic.
- Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.
- 1902-1-900-a,b
- Drawing, Design for Chinoiserie Wall Decoration
- pen and black ink; brush and rose, yellow and light blue watercolor, white....
- Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- 1911-28-213
Its dimensions are
22 x 28.9 cm (8 11/16 x 11 3/8 in.) Mat: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.)
Cite this object as
Drawing, Chinoiserie Fantasy; Jean-Baptiste Pillement (French, 1728–1808); France; graphite on white laid paper; 22 x 28.9 cm (8 11/16 x 11 3/8 in.) Mat: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.); Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt from the collection of Mrs. Abram S. Hewitt; 1931-70-29
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibitions Rooms with a View: Landscape & Wallpaper and The Cooper-Hewitt Collections: A Design Resource.
