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Object Timeline

-0001

1938

  • We acquired this object.

2014

2025

  • You found it!

Drawing, Sepulcher in Egyptian Style with Death Carrying a Lamp

This is a Drawing. It was created by Louis-Jean Desprez. It is dated 1779–84 and we acquired it in 1938. Its medium is pen and black ink, brush and gray, blue-gray wash, graphite on off-white paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Giovanni Piancastelli, a drawing teacher, collector, and curator of the Borghese collection in Rome, disposed of his drawings collection between 1901 and 1907. Using agents in Rome to preview the drawings, the Hewitt sisters recommended that the museum acquire about 3,700 mostly Italian decorative arts and architecture drawings in 1901. In 1938, the museum was able to largely reunite Piancastelli’s decorative drawings collection by acquiring about 8,700 drawings from Mrs. Edward D. Brandegee of Brookline, Massachusetts, who had originally purchased them in 1904.

It is credited Museum purchase through gift of various donors and from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund.

Our curators have highlighted 3 objects that are related to this one.

Its dimensions are

14.6 × 20.2 cm (5 3/4 × 7 15/16 in.)

It has the following markings

Watermark: J. HONIG

Cite this object as

Drawing, Sepulcher in Egyptian Style with Death Carrying a Lamp; Louis-Jean Desprez (French, active Sweden, 1743–1804); Italy; pen and black ink, brush and gray, blue-gray wash, graphite on off-white paper; 14.6 × 20.2 cm (5 3/4 × 7 15/16 in.) ; Museum purchase through gift of various donors and from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund; 1938-88-3952

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Hewitt Sisters Collect.

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/18542359/ |title=Drawing, Sepulcher in Egyptian Style with Death Carrying a Lamp |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=5 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>