Design for a Bourgeois Biedermeier Interior
date: label: Date
content: 1853–58
name: label: Designer
content: R. Haes
notes: label: Catalogue Status
content: Research in Progress
label: Description
content: This watercolor likely documents a room in an upper-middle-class townhouse from the German town of Coblenz (today Koblenz). The furnishings in the drawing appear to date from the 1840s. The sofa follows the Rococo Revival style popular around this time; the round table, klismos-type chairs (created by the ancient Greeks, with splayed legs and curved backrest and rails), and side chair are typical late Biedermeier pieces, while the white ceramic stove features bands of decorated tiles with Schinkel-style classical motifs. Gray flat-patterned wallpaper with contrasting red Gothic pelmet bands beneath the upper molding and a similar band above the baseboard covers the walls. Additionally, the floor is covered by a green carpet with octagonal motifs. A bookshelf hangs on the right-hand wall, along with a cuckoo clock. A servant's cord hangs on the left side of the room.
place: label: place depicted
content: Coblenz (Koblenz), Germany
label: made in
content: Germany
setName: label: See more items in
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collection
label: See more items in
content: Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design Department
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Museum purchase through gift of Sarah Cooper Hewitt
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 1954-157-2
objectType: label: Type
content: interiors
label: Object Name
content: Drawing
label: Type
content: Drawing
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Brush and watercolor, white gouache, pen and black ink on wove paper
label: Dimensions
content: Sheet: 21.6 x 28.6 cm (8 1/2 x 11 1/4 in.)
label: Dimensions
content: Mat: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.)
label: Dimensions
content: Frame H x W x D: 39.7 x 50.2 x 2.5 cm (15 5/8 in. x 19 3/4 in. x 1 in.)