Design for a Panel or Wallpaper (?) with an Ornamental Frame with Scrolls and a Shell Decorated with Garlands and Bundles of Flowers and Fruits and a Monogrammed Oval Frame

Rectangular sheet of paper with a design for a panel or wallpaper (?) from the second half of the nineteenth century, inspired on the style of Louis XVI, forming part of the Neo-Classical Revival that took place in France and Britain from the 1850s on. The style was part of the Classical and Renaissance Revival that took place from about 1850, where the interest on the art and architecture from Ancient Rome and the 15th and 16th centuries was propelled by archaeological discoveries in Greece, Italy and Egypt. Through this style, Classical and Renaissance pieces of art and design were reinterpreted in a variety of forms and motifs, and classical figures, scrolling decorations, strapwork, and grotesques and moresques, became central element in design. This Revival was characterized by the use of design motifs that alluded to Classical Antiquity, including vases and trophies with pastoral attributes, classical figures and cameos, a mixture of real and fantastic figures, and swags and festoons. These swags and festoons comprised garlands of fabric and ribbon, as well as thin bundles and garlands of flowers and husks colored with pastels. The scale of this design is clearly not true to life and it is not unlikely that this drawing was made for a sample book of an upholsterer, to be shown to the customer as one of many different styles to choose from.
The design consists of an oval-shaped ornamental frame with a monogram of golden color over a pink background, upon which a bundle of leaves of various shapes of green and fruits that resemble apricots and grapes rests, framed by a rectandular ornamental frame with scrolls, also of golden color, and with a carmine background. A shell can be seen in the upper center of the frame, from which scrolls and thin garlands of leaves and flowers hang. The bottom side of the frame is decorated with two large branches of leaves with red berries. The background enclosing the frame is colored with green. As most of the presentation drawings of this type, the final product could be customized according to the taste of the patron, and the monogram presented in this design could have been changed for the actual panel or wallpaper.