Rocaille Ornament Design
1749â61
Classification
Bound print
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
Accession Number
1921-6-213-8
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Alexis Peyrotte’s Rocaille Ornament Design captures the playful elegance of mid-eighteenth-century French decorative art. Created between 1749 and 1761, the work exemplifies the Rococo movement’s love of asymmetry, scrolling forms, and shell-like motifs—elements that gave the style its name, “rocaille.” As a bound print, it likely served as a pattern or model for craftsmen working in textiles, furniture, or interior ornament, reflecting the period’s growing emphasis on printed design sources that spread fashionable tastes across Europe. Peyrotte, a French artist active during the reign of Lou...