Allegorical Cartouches and Trophies, Pl. 4 — Nouvelle Iconologie Historique

Two finely drawn cartouches crowned with classical trophies, exemplifying Delafosse's vocabulary of medallions, ribbons, and martial attributes.

Plate 4. Designed and engraved by Jean-Charles Delafosse. From a suite of ornamental designs published in Paris by Jean-François Daumont, c. 1770.

Delafosse's cartouche plates served as ready-made models for sign-painters, silversmiths, and architects framing inscriptions or coats of arms. Their robust scrollwork sits at the cusp between late Rococo flourish and the disciplined symmetry of the emerging Neoclassical taste.

Hand-coloured copperplate engraving. Sheet approximately 46.9 × 33.8 cm. Very Good.