Metal Candlestick with Classical Ornament
19th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink on tracing paper
Dimensions
sheet: 20 1/16 x 7 5/16 in. (51 x 18.5 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1960
Accession Number
60.632.156
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate drawing, titled *Metal Candlestick with Classical Or*, captures the elegance of 19th-century British design by an anonymous artist. Rendered in pen and brown ink on paper—a medium favored for its translucency, allowing draftsmen to trace and refine motifs from classical sources—the sheet measures 20 1/16 x 7 5/16 inches. It depicts a ornate candlestick adorned with neoclassical elements like acanthus leaves, scrolls, and urns, evoking the grandeur of ancient Greece and Rome. In Victorian Britain, such ornamental drawings were essential tools for artisans crafting metalwork, brid...