Wallpaper
ca. 1780-1800 (printed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Single-sheet papers of this kind, with fanciful Western interpretations of Chinese motifs, were produced by British manufacturers from the 1760s. They were intended as a cheaper alternative to the fashionable, but expensive, hand-painted wallpapers imported from China by the East India Company. The composition suggests that this paper was designed to be joined end to end with identical sheets to form a frieze-like decoration, possibly for a music room.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Etching, coloured by hand with watercolours |
| Brief description | Sheet of wallpaper with design of bird-cage and musical instruments in the Chinese style. English, ca. 1780-1800. |
| Physical description | An unused oblong sheet of wallpaper with a song-bird in a cage on the left and an unidentified object (perhaps a drum, tambourine or cymbal, with silk bands or tassels attached) suspended by ribbons from a wooden flute. The central motifs are framed by decorative hexagonal borders, and there are other musical instruments including a pipe or flute, and drum-sticks, behind, in the centre, and to the right-hand side. The outlines are etched and the colours painted by hand. It has the Georgian Excise Duty stamp and the number 3 on the back. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Single-sheet papers of this kind, with fanciful Western interpretations of Chinese motifs, were produced by British manufacturers from the 1760s. They were intended as a cheaper alternative to the fashionable, but expensive, hand-painted wallpapers imported from China by the East India Company. The composition suggests that this paper was designed to be joined end to end with identical sheets to form a frieze-like decoration, possibly for a music room. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.937-2000 |
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| Record created | February 16, 2001 |
| Record URL |
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