Photo by ©The Public Domain Review
Photo by ©The Public Domain Review

CHINESE ARABESQUES

Jean-Baptiste Pillement and Anne Allen (ca. 1790–99)

Words by Gin Harris

Nouvelle Suite de Cahiers arabesques chinois (New Suite of Chinese Arabesques) is a collection of multicolor and eye-catching sheets made by Jean-Baptiste Pillement and his wife Anne Allen.

The prints are characterized by festoons drape and fishing lures drop within floral microcosms populated by tiny Orientalized figures and fantastical, Boschian critters, in keeping with chinoiserie’s decorative orientation.

Photo by ©The Public Domain Review
Photo by ©The Public Domain Review

The sheets of “The New Suite of Chinese Arabesques” were  were printed à la poupée, meaning that several colors of ink were applied to different areas of the printing surface before it was run through a press in a single pass.

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