There is one other image of this object. This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions), and as such we offer a high-resolution image of it. See our image rights statement.

 

See more objects with the color rosybrown dimgrey or see all the colors for this object.

Object Timeline

-0001

1956

  • We acquired this object.

2015

2016

2025

  • You found it!

Drawing, Design for Candelabrum and Panel of Grotesques

This is a Drawing. It was created by Unknown. It is dated early 16th century and we acquired it in 1956. Its medium is pen and brown ink on paper, lined. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.


This early 16th-century drawing features a candelabrum with similar motifs to Nicoletto’s engravings, also in this gallery. The candelabrum as a focal point enabled artists and designers to create vertical ornament that builds on itself, and it became a common theme of grotesque designs. Here, a menagerie of satyrs, sphinxes, harpies, dragons, dolphins, serpents, birds, and rams intertwine amid disembodied heads and vegetal tendrils.

It is credited Museum purchase through gift of Walter Leo Hildburgh.

Our curators have highlighted 6 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 26.4 × 20 cm (10 3/8 × 7 7/8 in.) Mat: 45.7 × 35.6 cm (18 × 14 in.)

It has the following markings

Watermark: siren within a circle (cf. Briquet no. 13833; Rome, 1490-98, Udine, 1493)

Cite this object as

Drawing, Design for Candelabrum and Panel of Grotesques; Unknown; Italy; pen and brown ink on paper, lined; H x W x D: 26.4 × 20 cm (10 3/8 × 7 7/8 in.) Mat: 45.7 × 35.6 cm (18 × 14 in.); Museum purchase through gift of Walter Leo Hildburgh; 1956-41-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Fragile Beasts.

This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18409533/ |title=Drawing, Design for Candelabrum and Panel of Grotesques |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=5 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>