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Object Timeline

2012

2013

  • We acquired this object.

2019

2024

  • You found it!

Drawing, Elevation and Plan for a Staircase Model in the English Style

This is a Drawing. It was designed by Francoise Gillet. It is dated 1836 and we acquired it in 2013. Its medium is pen and black ink, brush and pink, yellow, and grey watercolor on cream wove paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

This well-executed drawing appears to correspond directly to one of the staircase models given to the museum by Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw. The drawing, which shows both an elevation and a cross-section of the staircase’s revolutions, represents an example of compagnonnage training in design at a considerably earlier date than the other staircase drawings in Cooper Hewitt’s collection. With a date of 1836, the drawing demonstrates the continuum of this system of design training and of the forms taught. The inscription on the drawing also suggests that it was executed in Paris, which indicates that the work was probably completed as a demonstration of design mastery in the journeyman phase of compagnonnage training.

This object was donated by Eugene V. Thaw and Clare E. Thaw. It is credited Gift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw.

  • No. 4 Rocking Chair
  • bent beechwood, woven caning.
  • Museum purchase through gift of American Institute of Interior Designers.
  • 1969-103-2

Our curators have highlighted 7 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

  • Antony Side Chair
  • molded plywood, enameled bent tubular steel and sheet steel.
  • Museum purchase through the bequest of Ida McNeil in memory of Lincoln C.....
  • 1991-116-1

Its dimensions are

49.5 x 33.3 cm (19 1/2 x 13 1/8 in.)

It is inscribed

In pen and black ink, upper right: Fait à Paris le 10 février/ 1836 par Gillet Francoise (with paraph)

Cite this object as

Drawing, Elevation and Plan for a Staircase Model in the English Style; Designed by Francoise Gillet (French, active 1836); France; pen and black ink, brush and pink, yellow, and grey watercolor on cream wove paper; 49.5 x 33.3 cm (19 1/2 x 13 1/8 in.); Gift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw; 2013-3-1

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/18707929/ |title=Drawing, Elevation and Plan for a Staircase Model in the English Style |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=19 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>