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2025

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Book Cover, Modelli da ricamo (Embroidery models)

This is a Book cover. It was designed by Giovanni Battista Cipriani and engraved by Giovanni Battista Cipriani. It is dated 1810. Its medium is half-leather binding with decorated paper boards. It is a part of the Smithsonian Libraries department.

A decorative cross-stitch motif superimposed on a grid pattern appropriately encases this book on embroidery drawings and designs and visually resembles a colorful and tightly woven textile. The embossed surface that provides a texture to the book also enhances the illusion that cover is fabric rather than leather and paper. Giovanni Battista Cipriani, born in Florence in 1727, worked in England after 1755 as a painter and engraver. Modelli da ricamo consists of approximately 40 decorative patterns that Cipriani designed and engraved. A majority of the designs employ floral motifs and are situated on foldouts so that they could easily be copied or adapted for embroidery projects.

It is credited Collection of Smithsonian Institution Libraries.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/68776045/ |title=Book Cover, Modelli da ricamo (Embroidery models) |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>