Design with Flowers and Rocaille Ornaments 1760

This drawing of flowers and rocaille ornaments was made by Jean Pillement in the 18th century. The drawing is rendered in black and white chalk heightened with white on blue paper. Pillement wasn't exactly making "art" here; instead, he was churning out designs that could be used by other craftspeople—furniture makers, plasterers, and engravers, for instance. The swirling, asymmetrical forms of the rocaille – that’s shell-like decoration – were all the rage. You can imagine the pressure Pillement was under to continually invent new motifs, to feed the seemingly endless appetite for luxury goods. Think of this drawing, then, as a kind of raw material itself. It's an idea, ready to be put to work in the service of consumption. Appreciating this drawing invites us to reconsider the many hands involved in the decorative arts, and to appreciate the ingenuity that went into even the most ephemeral fashions.