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A cartouche (also cartouch) is an oval or oblong design with a slightly convex surface, typically edged with ornamental scrollwork. It is used to hold a painted or low-relief design.[1] Since the early 16th century, the cartouche is a scrolling frame device, derived originally from Italian cartuccia. Such cartouches are characteristically stretched, pierced and scrolling.
The engraved trade card of the London clockmaker Percy Webster shows a vignette of the shop in a scrolling cartouche frame of Rococo design that is composed entirely of scrolling devices.
History
Antiquity
Cartouches are found on buildings, funerary steles and sarcophagi. The cartouche is generally rectangular, delimited by a molding or one or more incised lines, with two symmetrical trapezoids on the lateral edges.
Roman rectangular cartouche on the frieze of the entrance of Horrea Epagathiana et Epaphroditiana, Ostia, Rome, unknown architect, 145-150 AD[2]
Chinese cartouches, illustration from L'Ornement Polychrome, by Albert Racinet, 1888
From the Renaissance to Art Deco
The Renaissance brought back elements of Greco-Roman culture, including ornaments like the cartouche. Compared to their ancient ancestors, the ones from the Renaissance are usually much more complex. Cartouches continue to be used in styles that succeed the Renaissance. Most have the usual look of a symmetrical oval with scrolls developed during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, but some are highly stylized, showing the diversity of styles popular over time. They were used constantly, and were one of the main motifs of Rococo and Beaux Arts architecture.
Their use started to fade in Art Deco, a style created as a collective effort of multiple French designers to make a new modern style around 1910. This is because artists of this movement tried to create new ornaments for their time, most often stylizing motifs used before, or coming up with completely new ones. Art Deco also followed the principle of simplicity, another reason for the rarity of complex ornaments like cartouches or mascarons in Art Deco.
Three Renaissance cartouches (two at the top and one at the bottom) on the frontispiece from On The Fabric of the Human Body, by Andreas Vesalius, 1555, woodcut on paper, Rijksmuseum
16th and 17th century Renaissance cartouches from L'Ornement Polychrome, by Albert Racinet, 1888
Baroque cartouche with putti, above a mirror in the bedchamber of the Mecklenburg Apartment, Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin, unknown architect, 17th century
Baroque cartouche with the coat of arms of the Davanzati Family on the Palazzo Davanzati, Florence, unknown sculptor, late 17th century
Baroque cartouche of the frontispiece for Figures françoises et comiques by Robert Hecquet, possibly 1702, etching in paper, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Rococo cartouche on a tureen, by the Sèvres porcelain factory, 1757–1758, soft-paste porcelain, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Rococo engraved tradecard of Percy Webster, clockmaker from London, c.1760, engraving, unknown location
Brâncovenesc cartouche on the pisanie that records the erection of the Wallachian academy in Bucharest, Bucharest University Museum, unknown architect or sculptor, 1776
Rococo Revival cartouche ob a cone-shaped vase, part of a pair, by Nicolas Bugeard?, mid-19th century, hard-paste porcelain, painted and gilded, Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris
Renaissance Revival cartouches on a pitcher decorated with coats of arms, unknown artist or producer, 1855, porcelain, overglaze enameling and gilding, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York City
Renaissance Revival cartouches on a display case, designed by Eugène Prignot and Albert-Ernest Carrier de Belleuse, and sculpted by Bernard, 1867, wood and ivory, Petit Palais, Paris
Neoclassical cartouches in and under a pediment of the Traian Hall (Calea Călărașilor no. 133), Bucharest, by Giulio Magno, 1896
Beaux-Arts cartouche of the Pont Alexandre III, Paris, designed by Joseph Cassien-Bernard and Gaston Cousin, 1896-1900
Art Nouveau cartouche on the Alexandru Gr. Ionescu House (Bulevardul Lascăr Catargiu no. 4), Bucharest, by Eduard Romantxo, 1898[15]
Rococo Revival stucco with cartouches in the corners on a ceiling of the Cantacuzino Palace, Bucharest, by Ion D. Berindey, 1898-1906[16]
Complex Beaux Arts cartouche of Intrarea Costache Negri no. 1, Bucharest, unknown architect, 1899
Beaux Arts cartouche above the entrance of the Hôtel Le Vavasseur (Rue Boissière no. 21), Paris, by Ernest Sanson, 1899
Art Nouveau sgraffito cartouche of the Maison les Hiboux (Avenue Brugmann no. 53), Brussels, by Édouard Pelseneer, 1899
Beaux Arts cartouche on facade of the Cozette Boulangerie (Rue Montgallet no. 19), Paris, unknown architect or painter, late 19th century[17]
Stylized Beaux Arts cartouche of the Monumental Portico Jules-Félix Coutan in the Square Félix-Desruelles, Paris, by Jules Coutan or Charles-Auguste Risler, before 1900
Art Nouveau sgraffito cartouche on Place Louis Morichar no. 10, Brussels, unknown artist, 1900[18]
Stylized Art Nouveau cartouche with the RF monogram (which stands for Republique Française) on a ceiling of the Town Hall of Euville, France, by Henri Gutton, 1901-1909[19]
Beaux Arts cartouche of the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, Paris, by Jean Camille Formigé, Louis Biette and Daydé & Pillé, 1903-1905
Gothic Revivalshield-like cartouches on the Hermann I.Rieber carriage factory (Strada Romulus no. 17), Bucharest, by Siegfrid Kofczinsky, 1903[20]
Gothic Revival cartouche with initial on a door of the Vasile Zottu House (Strada C.A. Rosetti no. 7), Bucharest, unknown architect, 1909[21]
Romanian Revival cartouche above a window of the Aurel Mincu House (Bulevardul Dacia no. 60), Bucharest, by Arghir Culina, 1910[22]
Highly stylized Art Nouveau cartouche on Rue Jean-de-La-Fontaine no. 21, Paris, by Hector Guimard, c.1911
Greek Revival cartouche of a horse tie ring of the Adina and Emil Costinescu House (Strada Polonă no. 4), Bucharest, by Ion D. Berindey, 1911-1915[23]
Art Deco cartouche on a fan, produced by Au Bon Marché, 1920-1925, vellum, stamping, wood, metal, and silver plating, Musée Galliera
Art Deco cartouche above the entrance columns of the National Diet Building, Kyoto, by Fukuzo Watanabe, 1920-1936
At the end of the WW2, with the rise in popularity of the International Style, characterized by the complete lack of any ornamentation, led to the complete abandonment of any ornaments, including cartouches.
They reappear later in some Postmodernism, a movement that questioned Modernism (the status quo after WW2), and which promoted the inclusion of elements of historic styles in new designs. An early text questioning Modernism was by architect Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966), in which he recommended a revival of the 'presence of the past' in architectural design. He tried to include in his own buildings qualities that he described as 'inclusion, inconsistency, compromise, accommodation, adaptation, superadjacency, equivalence, multiple focus, juxtaposition, or good and bad space.'[24] Venturi encouraged 'quotation', which means reusing elements of the past in new designs. Part manifesto, part architectural scrapbook accumulated over the previous decade, the book represented the vision for a new generation of architects and designers who had grown up with Modernism but who felt increasingly constrained by its perceived rigidities. Multiple Postmodern architects and designers put simplified reinterpretations of the elements found in Classical decoration on their creations. However, they were in most cases highly simplified, and more reinterpretations than true reuses of the elements intended. Because of their complexity, cartouches were extremely rarely used in Postmodern architecture and design.[25]
Cartouches enjoyed more popularity in Retro style of the 21st century, through designs inspired mainly by the 18th and 19th centuries.
^Ching, Francis D. K. (1995). A Visual Dictionary of Architecture. New York: John Wiley and Sons. p. 183. ISBN 0-471-28451-3.
^Fullerton, Mark D. (2020). Art & Archaeology of The Roman World. Thames & Hudson. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-500-051931.
^Eastmond, Anthony (2013). The Glory of Byzantium and early Christendom. Phaidon. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-7148-4810-5.
^Eastmond, Anthony (2013). The Glory of Byzantium and early Christendom. Phaidon. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-7148-4810-5.
^Irv Graham (9 August 2012). "Longquan Ware Vase – The Percival David Collection". chineseantiques.co.uk. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
^Robertson, Hutton (2022). The History of Art - From Prehistory to Presentday - A Global View. Thames & Hudson. p. 784. ISBN 978-0-500-02236-8.
^"Tombeau du coeur de François Ier, roi de France". pop.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
^"Maison". pop.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
^Bresc-Bautier, Geneviève (2008). The Louvre, a Tale of a Palace. Musée du Louvre Éditions. p. 28. ISBN 978-2-7572-0177-0.
^Hopkins 2014, p. 82.
^Robertson, Hutton (2022). The History of Art - From Prehistory to Presentday - A Global View. Thames & Hudson. p. 870. ISBN 978-0-500-02236-8.
^Irving, Mark (2019). 1001 BUILDINGS You Must See Before You Die. Cassel Illustrated. p. 217. ISBN 978-1-78840-176-0.
^"Espace Bellechasse". abcsalles.com. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
^Façades Art Nouveau - Les Plus Beaux sgraffites de Bruxelles. [aparté]. 2005. p. 133. ISBN 2-930327-13-8.
^Marinache, Oana (2019). ArhiTur - Bulevardul Colțea - Bulevardul Lascăr Catargiu (in Romanian). Editura Istoria Artei. p. 21.
^Mariana Celac, Octavian Carabela and Marius Marcu-Lapadat (2017). Bucharest Architecture - an annotated guide. Ordinul Arhitecților din România. p. 90. ISBN 978-973-0-23884-6.
^"Boulangerie". pop.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
^Façades Art Nouveau - Les Plus Beaux sgraffites de Bruxelles. [aparté]. 2005. p. 58. ISBN 2-930327-13-8.
^Croitoru-Tonciu, Monica (2022). Alfred Popper - 1874-1946 - (re)descoperirea unui arhitect (in Romanian). SIMETRIA. p. 30. ISBN 978-973-1872-51-3.
^Oana Marinache (19 February 2021). "Reşedinţa Zottu, exemplu al neoromânescului oriental". adevarul.ro. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
^Woinaroski, Cristina (2013). Istorie urbană, Lotizarea și Parcul Ioanid din București în context european (in Romanian). SIMETRIA. p. 218. ISBN 978-973-1872-30-8.
^Woinaroski, Cristina (2013). Istorie urbană, Lotizarea și Parcul Ioanid din București în context european (in Romanian). SIMETRIA. p. 205. ISBN 978-973-1872-30-8.
^Watkin, David (2022). A History of Western Architecture. Laurence King. p. 660. ISBN 978-1-52942-030-2.
^Hopkins 2014, p. 200, 203.
^Hodge 2019, p. 47.
Works cited
Hodge, Susie (2019). The Short Story of Architecture. Laurence King Publishing. ISBN 978-1-7862-7370-3.
Hopkins, Owen (2014). Architectural Styles: A Visual Guide. Laurence King. ISBN 978-178067-163-5.