Project for an Oriental School House (elevation and plan)
Davis' most ambitious unrealized Oriental design. Its plan includes rooms for recitation and assembly grouped around a circular central stair. The facade is Moghul in character, dominated by a two-story arched entrance niche flanked by towers topped with pavilions. Davis must have derived these elements from prints of famous mosques since he never traveled outside the United States. Another Islamic touch is the use of pressed terracotta tiles to achieve surface texture, indicated with pen lines over brown washes.
Artwork Details
- Title: Project for an Oriental School House (elevation and plan)
- Draftsman: Alexander Jackson Davis (American, New York 1803–1892 West Orange, New Jersey)
- Date: 1835–92
- Medium: Graphite, ink and watercolor
- Dimensions: 13 5/8 x 9 1/4 in. (34.6 x 23.5 cm)
- Classifications: Drawings, Ornament & Architecture
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1924
- Object Number: 24.66.763
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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