Plate 53: Temple, from "A New Book of Chinese Designs"

Plate 53 of 'A New Book of Chinese Designs', consisting of a title page, index, and 120 plates, etched and published in 1754 by the British caricaturist, printseller and ornamental engraver Matthew Darly, in collaboration with George Edwards. The book consists of a variety of ornamental and costume designs of Chinese inspiration, some of them copies of the original works (including the title).

This plate consists of a design for a temple, made up of a central chamber with a fence with geometric pattern, flanked above by a cartouche, framed with thin, scrolling motifs, which forms an open window. This central chamber is flanked to the sides by two columns with cartouches of marble and two octagonal frames, each with a human figure in it; above them are two variations of the design: on the left, a smaller column with another marble cartouche, and on the right an open balcony with a figure standing on it. At the outer sides are two small chambers surrounded by rails and with scrolling ceilings, flanked above small canopies with wind vanes (?) on the top. The ceiling of the temple has a terrace with a balustrade with geometric patterns, a large canopy on the center, and two smaller ones on the sides, all of them with scrolling ceilings and flanked above by wind vanes. Two people are walking on the left side of this terrace.