Ornament design
by BERAIN, Jean the Elder, Engraving, 516 x 406 mm
This design by the architect and designer Jean Berain show the delightful, lighthearted, whimsical, and strictly symmetrical decoration known as grotesques. Berain’s work was very influential and was adopted for the decoration of Boulle marquetry, tapestries, and other textiles, as well as faience. Berain, who was named chief designer to the French court in 1690, was given lodgings in the Louvre near those of his son-in-law, the clockmaker Jacques Thuret, and the cabinetmaker Andr�-Charles Boulle.