Design for a Valance with a Grotesque Motif and Thin Garlands of Flowers and Leaves with a Scrolling Frame

Rectangular sheet of paper with a design for a valance from the second half of the nineteenth century, inspired on the style of Louis XVI, which was characterized by thin bundles and garlands of flowers, trophies with pastoral attributes and pastel colors. The scale of this design is clearly not true to life and it is not unlikely that this drawing was made for a sample book of an upholsterer, to be shown to the customer as one of many different styles to choose from. The design is made up of a cream background decorated with ornamental scrolls of lilac, blue, and white color, and garlands of flowers and leaves of various tones of pink, carmine, yellow, and green. The upper part of the valance is decorated with a grotesque motif of blue color, decorated with garlands of flowers, and flanked by ornamental scrolls of white color on the sides and above. Above the grotesque, the frame of the garland contains a small shell motif in lilac color, and is decorated with accents in tones of yellow and ocre to simulate gold.