Pattern for Ewer
n.d.
Medium
Pen and brown ink, with brush and brown watercolor on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
33.2 × 25.8 cm (13 1/8 × 10 3/16 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
115519
Art Historical Context
Giuseppe Grisoni “Pattern for Ewer” a glimpse into the careful process of designing decorative objects in the 18th century. Created with pen and brown ink and finished with brush and watercolor on ivory laid paper the drawing measures just over 13 inches tall. As its title suggests, the sheet served as a working design for a ewer—a graceful, spouted pitcher often made in silver or porcelain—allowing craftsmen to visualize the object’s form, ornament, and proportions before execution. The combination of precise ink lines and delicate watercolor washes highlights the medium’s strengths for such...
About the Artist
Giuseppe Grisoni · 1699–1769
Giuseppe Grisoni was born in Mons, in the Spanish Netherlands, in 1699, to an Italian family, and his career unfolded across multiple European courts and cultural centers, making him a quintessentially cosmopolitan figure of the early eighteenth century. He received his artistic training in Florence, where he absorbed the rich tradition of Florentine portraiture and absorbed the influence of the G...