Birds and Flowers, Decorative Border — Remondini

An exuberant late eighteenth-century decorative paper of exotic birds amid flowering boughs, framed by a Greek-key border.

Published by Remondini, Bassano del Grappa, c. 1780.

Combinations of birds and flowers held a long-running appeal in European decorative arts, drawing on natural history publications and on imported Chinese and Indian textiles. The Remondini workshop translated such motifs into hand-coloured papers for the popular market, where the bright plumage and lush foliage suited an interior taste shaped by chinoiserie and natural history fashions of the late Settecento.

Hand-coloured copperplate engraving. Sheet approximately 44.5 × 54.2 cm. Very Good.