Design for Textile (?) with Trophy, "L'agriculture"
Anonymous, French, 18th century French
Not on view
Design for textile (?) that is part of a group of ten designs, all containing trophies and pasted on sheets of blue paper with frames hand-drawn with black and pasted and rendered with metallic pigment. The type trophies in the designs, which are inspired on gardening and other outdoor activities, were common in the eighteenth century and could be used in wallpapers, tapestries and even as textiles for furniture.
This design, titled "L'agriculture" (agriculture) is made up of a white-and-blue porcelain vase motif with two handles and what could most likely be a rural landscape or a pastoral scene in it, from which a small tree with fruit motifs, possibly peaches or apples, emerges. Behind thee vase are a rake and a shovel, forming an x, from which hang thin garlands of green leaves, pink roses, and other stylized flowers with pink, brown, and blue petals.