Design for 4 seat Phaeton, no top (unnumbered)
Medium
Pen and black ink, watercolor and gouache with gum arabic
Dimensions
sheet: 6 1/2 x 10 in. (16.5 x 25.4 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William Brewster, 1923
Accession Number
23.112.1675
Tags
Art Historical Context
This elegant design drawing captures a four-seat phaeton carriage, an open, lightweight vehicle popular in the mid-19th century for leisurely drives. Created between 1850 and 1870 by Brewster & Co., one of America’s leading carriage manufacturers, with draftsman Channing Britton, the sheet showcases the firm’s reputation for refined, custom vehicles favored by affluent clients. The unnumbered study reflects the bespoke nature of carriage production during an era when such conveyances symbolized status and mobility before the rise of automobiles. Executed in pen and black ink with delicate wat...
About the Artist
Brewster & Co.|Channing Britton
**Brewster & Co.** Brewster & Company, a premier American coachbuilder renowned for its exquisite carriage designs, was established in 1810 in New Haven, Connecticut, by James Brewster (1788–1866). Born in 1788, Brewster trained as a wagonmaker's apprentice starting at age 16 in Northampton, Massachusetts, before relocating to New Haven, where he set up his workshop and quickly gained acclaim for...