There is one other image of this object. This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions), and as such we offer a high-resolution image of it. See our image rights statement.

 

See more objects with the color darkgrey dimgrey darkslategrey grey or see all the colors for this object.

Object Timeline

1920

  • We acquired this object.

2006

2008

2014

2016

2024

  • You found it!

Print, Triomphe de Priape

This is a Print. It was designed by François Boucher and published by Nicolas de Larmessin IV and print maker: Claude Augustin Duflos. It is dated 1740 and we acquired it in 1920. Its medium is etching and engraving on white laid paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

This etching is a design for a panel for a folding screen titled, “The Triumph of Priapus.” It was etched and engraved as part of a five-plate suite of folding screen designs. The composition is anchored by two flights of stairs leading into an Italian garden populated with cypress trees. Putti fly across the landscape holding an overflowing cornucopia and some play with the goat in the garden. On the balustrade, a pair of putti plays with flowers and berries. This energetic scene is overseen by a term with a satyr head that serves as a stand-in for Priapus, the Greek god of the vegetable garden, goats, bees and virility. In this design, Boucher references the fact that Priapus was worshipped on fields where goats and sheep pastured. This design is a prime example of Boucher’s artistic vocabulary as it combines allegorical iconography and rustic themes. While folding screens based on his designs were probably never realized, Boucher along with artists such as Antoine Watteau, Claude Audran, Jacques de Lajoüe, and Nicolas Lancret designed panels for folding screens, particularly as screens became a ubiquitous part of French interior furnishings from the late seventeenth-century onwards.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Screening the Rococo.

This object was donated by Advisory Council. It is credited Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.

Its dimensions are

Platemark: 51 x 25.5 cm (20 1/16 x 10 1/16 in.)

It is signed

Lettered lower left, in plate: F. Boucher invenit; Lettered lower right, in plate: C.L. Duflos Sculpsit

It is inscribed

Printed lower center, in plate: TRIOMPHE DE PRIAPE / A Paris chez De Larmessin graveur du Roy rue de Noyers à la deuxieme Porte cochere à gauche entrant par la rue St. Jacques. A.P.D.R.; Inscribed in graphite, lower right, in margin: 1921-6-203(6)

Cite this object as

Print, Triomphe de Priape; Designed by François Boucher (French, 1703–1770); Print Maker: Claude Augustin Duflos (French, 1700–1786); Published by Nicolas de Larmessin IV (French, 1684 - 1755); France; etching and engraving on white laid paper; Platemark: 51 x 25.5 cm (20 1/16 x 10 1/16 in.); Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council; 1921-6-203-6

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Rococo: The Continuing Curve 1730-2008.

This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18220609/ |title=Print, Triomphe de Priape |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>