Watercolor and pencil drawing of a floral pattern. The pattern consists of nine large, white, realistic, radially symmetrical flowers, on a blue background with golden brown stems and leaves and four identical, evenly spaced, stylized, round, brown medallions containing smaller white flowers that look like simplified cherry blossom. While the large flowers and leaves look realistic, the veins on some of the leaves are stylized with geometric patterns formed by a continuous line that remind of a Greek key pattern. The large flowers have five large white petals each, with brown nectar guides and a complex, circular structure in the center so that stigma and stamens are not clearly visible. The drawing is on a square with wider lateral margins. In the center of the drawing, there is a subtly penciled 50x50 grid of identical squares, numbered 1 to 50 along each of the four sides and in the middle of the grid. The pattern is such that it can be repeated, like in a block print, because the lines at opposite margins match and complete each other.

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See more objects with the tag flowers, organic, ornamentation.

Object Timeline

-0001	We photographed this object.
1982	We acquired this object.
1991	We exhibited this object.
2015	We photographed this object.
2017	We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Drawing, Textile Design: Japonisme

This is a Drawing. It was made for Warner and Sons, Ltd.. It is dated ca. 1874–80 and we acquired it in 1982. Its medium is brush and watercolor, gouache, graphite on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

This textile design’s gold tones, stylized leaves, and blooming flowers create a flat and shallow surface, a defining quality of Aesthetic Movement ornament influenced by the mania for Japanese woodblock prints and other Edo exports. In the late 19th century, Warner and Sons was a leading weaver of furnishing silk. This design for an interior fabric would have been executed in metallic threads, which, when met with light, would further contribute to its emphasis on surface ornament.

It is credited Museum Purchase.

A mixed media vase made of gold, silver and copper creating mokume or a marbling effect that looks like wood. A small rim opening has a repeating etched design to a large top body that tapers to a double ridged base.

Vase (USA), 1889
silver, gold, copper, and mixed metals.
Gift of the daughters of Louis deBébian Moore.
1976-58-1-a/f

Sidewall, Japanese Leather
embossed paper, stained, gilded and varnished.
Gift of Mrs. Montgomery Hare.
1940-96-1-a/k

Frieze, Japanese Passion Flower
block-printed on embossed paper.
Gift of Edith and Maude Wetmore.
1939-45-11-a,b

Our curators have highlighted 1 object that are related to this one.

Katagami, Leaves and Latticework
cut mulberry paper treated with persimmon tannin and silk thread.
Gift of Helen Snyder.
1976-103-150

Its dimensions are

62 × 69.9 cm (24 7/16 × 27 1/2 in.) Mat: 71.1 × 91.4 cm (28 × 36 in.)

Cite this object as

Drawing, Textile Design: Japonisme; Made for Warner and Sons, Ltd. (United Kingdom); England; brush and watercolor, gouache, graphite on paper; 62 × 69.9 cm (24 7/16 × 27 1/2 in.) Mat: 71.1 × 91.4 cm (28 × 36 in.); Museum Purchase; 1982-50-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibitions Passion for the Exotic: Japonism and The Cooper-Hewitt Collections: A Design Resource.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2EmA2/
Accession Number 1982-50-1
Object ID 18800005