Object Type
This German print, by Carl August Menzel, showing mannered and distorted classical ornament was probably aimed at textile designers and ceramic decorators. This print belongs to a published collection of ornamental friezes and arabesques copied from Greek and Roman architecture as well as designs in the 'Biedermeier' style by the author, Carl August Menzel (1794-1853?). It was part of a set of 36 plates Auserlesene Sammlung Antiker und moderner Arabesken und Chablonen fur Architekten, Stubenmaler und Fabrikherren in naturlicher Grosse gezeichnet, published in 6 parts in Berlin, around 1832.

People
Menzel was a pupil and assistant to the well known Berlin Neo-classical architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841), from whom he would have derived his interest in ornament, before becoming an architect in his own right. These ornament prints are printed in black on white paper as shaded outlines, or as black and white stencils.

Ownership & Use
This print was initially part of a set of large-scale examples of ornament published for the use of architects, interior designers and manufacturers. This particular print, however, was not used for this purpose. As shown by the handwritten inscriptions and the stamp 'SD' ('School of Design'), it was originally mounted on card and used as a model to be copied by students. It was probably bought as a teaching aid for the School of Design by one of the tutors, perhaps William Dyce, the Director from 1840 to 1843. Dyce had travelled in Prussia, Bavaria and France in the mid 1830s in order to study the teaching methods used in these countries and find models for British design education.

The print entered the V&A collections in 1872.