Design for an Urn on a Stand
Classification
drawing
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
Accession Number
1911-28-322
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
This delicate drawing by German artist Joseph Anton Seethaler II captures a design for an elegant urn on a stand, created between 182 and 1835. As a preparatory work classified simply as a drawing, it offers a glimpse into the creative process of a 19th-century designer working in the decorative arts. Seethaler, active during a period of refined European craftsmanship, likely intended this piece as a blueprint for a functional or ornamental object, possibly destined for a grand interior or garden setting. Housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the work reflects the institution’s inter...