Design of Scroll (Part of a Cartouche ?)

A pen and brown ink drawing of an asymmetrical rococo scroll, its C- and S-curves sprouting leaf-like volutes and small fronds across the sheet. The ornament spreads from upper left to a dense knot at center and trails down into a tight spiral at the lower left, with the right side left open on the pale paper.

Look closer: A small pen mark near the upper center of the sheet, likely a faint annotation.

Artist

Anonymous, Italian, Piedmontese, 18th century

Date

18th century

Medium

Pen and brown ink over black chalk, on light tan paper

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

3611 × 2292 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949