Chimneypiece Design with Decorated Panels, Suitable for a Gallery
date: label: Date
content: 1737-1742
name: label: Designer
content: Jacques-François Blondel, French, 1705–1774
label: Publisher
content: Jean Mariette, French, 1660–1742
notes: label: Catalogue Status
content: Research in Progress
label: Description
content: Richly decorated chimneypiece design with an over-mantle mirror as well as mirrors on the side panels. The side panels are carved with scroll ornamentation on the top and bottom; the top scrolls fuse with flowers and sprays of leaves, and a grotesque winged animal-head mascaron above the flowers. The frieze above the inset chimneypiece features an old man reclining on the ground against an overturned vase (a mythological river god) at the left, a trophy with a helmet and flag in the center, and a singerie (two monkeys, one playing the tambourine), at the right. The chimneypiece is set into the wall. It is richly ornamented with firedogs, carving on the mantle, at the center of which is a mascaron; on the mantle are two candelabra with figures (including putti, herms, and young men) spiraling around the forms, made of scrolls and leaves. There is a panel at the top of the mirror depicting a woman riding on a shell, surrounded by tritons in the water (a mythological Triumph of Venus). The top frame of the mirror has a mascaron at the broken pediment, on top of which sit two young tritons, the one on the left holding a snake. Below the title is a horizontal cross section inscribed, from left to right, "Plan du dessus de la Tablette," "Plan du Foyer et d'un des / Jambages du Chambranle". This section of the plate also features a scale of 6 French feet ("Echelle de 6 Pieds"). The plate is not numbered or signed and has been cut down.
place: label: published in
content: Paris, France
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: Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 1921-6-243-8
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Print
label: Type
content: Print
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Etching and engraving on laid paper