Design for a Chatelaine Watch with two Griffins and Female Figures Dressed in Draped Garments
Etching with a design for a watch chatelaine, created possibly between 1830 and 1970. This kind of decorative chatelaine was worn by men and women, suspended from the waistband using a hook positioned on the top of the brooch, and often carried a hanging watch or other utensils, including sewing accessories and signet seals. This design features a watch chatelaine ornamented in the neo-Renaissance style of the mid-19th century, and consists of a frame with small, stylized leaves, with a female figure, half-dressed with a draped cloth, holding a basket with flowers against her hip on one arm, and carrying a small bundle of flowers on the other. Around this inner frame is a larger frame, formed by two griffins on the side, mythological half-human females, wearing draped garments, who stand on scrolling, stylized acanthus leaves that scroll up from a shell motif that flanks the lower part of the frame, and who hold the ceiling of the frame, separated from the smaller frame by another shell motif, and decorated by a bundle of stylized fruits from which scroll thin, stylized, acanthus leaves that crown the frame. From this outer frame hangs a scrolling bar that holds a textile-inspired motif with scrolling branches with fruits and leaves, with a small tassel hanging under it. From the bar, to the sides of this motif, hang two chains, which hold the round watch case, containing a roundel framed by a strip of small, stylized leaves, and with a seated female figure holding a book on her knees, and a small angel lying next to her, filling her draped garments with small roses.
Artwork Details
- Title: Design for a Chatelaine Watch with two Griffins and Female Figures Dressed in Draped Garments
- Artist: Anonymous, French, 19th century
- Date: ca. 1830–70
- Medium: Etching
- Dimensions: Sheet: 11 in. × 7 3/8 in. (28 × 18.8 cm)
- Classifications: Prints, Ornament & Architecture
- Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962
- Object Number: 62.600.276
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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