Shield Designs
second half 19th century
Medium
Pen and ink and watercolor
Dimensions
sheet: 5 9/16 x 9 1/4 in. (14.2 x 23.5 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
60.632.141
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate sheet of *Shield Designs*, created anonymously by a British artist in the second half of the19th century, showcases intricate pen-and-ink drawings enhanced with watercolor. Measuring just 5 9/ x 9 1/4 inches, it heraldic motifs including majestic lions and turtles, rendered with precise lines and subtle color washes. These elements suggest designs for ornamental shields, blending symbolic animals typical of British heraldry. In Victorian Britain, heraldry experienced a revival amid a broader fascination with medieval and Gothic styles, often used in architecture, furniture, and ...