Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

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2019

2024

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Book Illustration, Floriated Ornament; pl. 12

This is a book illustration. It was written by A.W.N. Pugin and published by Henry G. Bohn. It is dated 1849. Its medium is chromolithograph. It is a part of the Smithsonian Libraries department.

Pugin celebrated ornamentation in architecture and looked to nature for inspiration. However, he cautioned against using fully representational flowers or other natural forms as ornament; Pugin dismissed ornamentation that “look[s] as if the flowers…were laid on the surface with no relationship to the plane.” Pugin recognizes the skill of medieval artists who translated “leaves and flowers into geometric forms; carefully arranging the shapes to fill up the space they were intended to enrich.”

It is credited Collection of Smithsonian Institution Libraries.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 49.5 × 32.4 cm (19 1/2 × 12 3/4 in.)

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/68802343/ |title=Book Illustration, Floriated Ornament; pl. 12 |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>