A bird's-eye view of a formal garden, in dark ink on yellowed paper. Above the design reads 'Berseaux couvers de charmier.' A high rectangular wall of trimmed hedges encloses an interior hedge. For the shape of the inner hedge, imagine an X, then trace around it, curving the line at the intersection and ends of the X. The hedges are pierced with arched tunnels to allow two paths, one horizontal and one vertical, to meet in a fountain court in the center of the garden. The fountain is encircled with eight arched arbors sheltering benches; curving beds of plants and potted topiaries lead out to smaller fountains that sit inside the ends of the X. Below the design, at left, 'D. Marot fec:'. At right, 'avec Privilegie. 11'. At the top of the page is a detail of another garden design with curving plant beds and potted topiaries. The plants are depicted with delicate detail, and squiggling lines suggest the texture of the hedges.

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See more objects with the tag water, symmetry, gardens, fountains, statues, baroque, grid, garden design, landscape design, arcades, niches, tunnels.

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Object Timeline

1988	We acquired this object.
2012	We photographed this object.
2014	We exhibited this object.
2015	We photographed this object.
2022	You found it!

Print, Design for a Garden Parterre of Cut Grass and Colored Gravel, from Nouveaux Livre de Parterres (New Book of Garden Beds) from Oeuvres du Sr. Marot

This is a Print. It was designed by Daniel Marot and published by Pierre Husson. It is dated ca. 1700 and we acquired it in 1988. Its medium is etching on cream laid paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France (1685) Daniel Marot fled to Holland, where he worked for William of Orange and his court. Marot produced extravagant designs for everything from beds, to curtains and mirrors. In his designs for gardens, Marot balanced a passion for ornament and order, as illustrated here with a semi-enclosed garden surrounded by a berceau or tunnel arcade. The grid-like structure of the parterres – delineated by straight paths and a square garden tunnel – owes much to tradition, reminiscent of French and Dutch Renaissance gardens, such as those depicted by Androuet du Cerceau in “The most Excellent Buildings of France” (1576-79). In contrast, Marot’s proposition for a swerving interior tunnel arcade is highly original, inspired by ornamental motifs and probably also by the gardens at Het Loo Palace. Adding innovation to a traditional scheme, Marot successfully combines old and new in a design already heralding the baroque creations of the 18th century.

It is credited Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.

A watercolor study for four garden designs drawn in perspective. All four designs are concentric squares featuring two large X’s bound by a square at their center. Top left: An outer edge of light green grass surrounds low square hedges alternating in light and dark green. The hedges total five on each side for a total of sixteen. Inside the hedges is another border of grass surrounding two yellow X’s with red fill and a black diamond at center. A walkway surrounds the garden and is bordered by a tall hedge in the background. Top right: Alternating small red and green rectangular plant beds surround the outer edge. A light green hedge of greater height than the surrounding beds pops up inside. The hedges are divided at each center point. At the same height two wooden X’s are bound by a wood square then red square. The X’s are filled with black and a red diamond at center. Bottom left: Alternating red and black rectangles surround the outer edge. Inside a gray walkway cut through with a red line at the center of each side. Each red line connects to a red box at the center that surrounds two white X’s filled with black. Bottom right: A narrow square of grass with equidistantly planted sphere-shaped hedges form the outer border. A gray border and two large gray X’s are at the center of the garden filled with light green grass.

Drawing, Four Studies of Garden Parterres
brush and watercolor, black chalk, graphite on off-white laid paper.
Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program....
1991-58-27

Drawing, Design for a Garden with Geometric Parterres

Drawing, Design for a Garden with Geometric Parterres
brush and watercolor, white gouache, black crayon on cream tracing paper.
Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program....
1991-58-24

A pencil drawing of a walled garden with five tall conical evergreen trees in a row. Short walls surround the garden forming a rectangular shape with an opening in the front. A set of stairs lead from the right to a platform in front of the garden. Two curved walls jut out from either side of the entrance. A half circle shaped bench is nestled perfectly inside each wall. A walkway leads to the center of the garden and ends at a sculpture of a lounging figure. Another curved bench is set against the right wall. The four corners are filled with grass. The top of the wall is lined with what appear to be small dome-shaped bushes. Faint pencil gridlines can be seen throughout the drawing.

Drawing, Study for Walled Garden with Sculpture, Benches, and a Row of Five...
graphite on tracing paper.
Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program....
1991-58-31

Our curators have highlighted 11 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

Print, Pieces D'eaux à compagniee d'orangeriée et despalliers, magnifique (Fountain in Garden Design), in Nouveaux Livre de Parterres contenant 24 pensséz diferantes (New Book Containing 24 Different Variations for Garden Beds)

Print, Pieces D'eaux à compagniee d'orangeriée et despalliers, magnifique...
etching and engraving on white laid paper.
Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.
1988-4-23

Print, Jardin partage en quatres parterres et Thérasses (Garden Beds and Four Terraces), in Nouveaux Livre de Parterres contenant 24 pensséz diferantes (New Book Containing 24 Different Variations for Garden Beds)

Print, Jardin partage en quatres parterres et Thérasses (Garden Beds and...
etching and engraving on white laid paper.
Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.
1988-4-14

Print, Versailles, Gardens, The Pleasures of the Enchanted Isle

Print, Versailles, Gardens, The Pleasures of the Enchanted Isle
etching and engraving. black ink on rolled paper.
1931-86-56

Its dimensions are

Platemark: 27.5 x 18.5 cm (10 13/16 x 7 5/16 in.) Sheet: 33.8 x 22.5 cm (13 5/16 x 8 7/8 in.)

It is signed

Signed in plate, lower left: D. Marot fec:

It is inscribed

Inscribed in plate, upper center: Berseaux couvers de charmier.; lower right: avec Privilegie. 11

Cite this object as

Print, Design for a Garden Parterre of Cut Grass and Colored Gravel, from Nouveaux Livre de Parterres (New Book of Garden Beds) from Oeuvres du Sr. Marot; Designed by Daniel Marot (French, active in the Netherlands and England, 1661–1752); France; etching on cream laid paper; Platemark: 27.5 x 18.5 cm (10 13/16 x 7 5/16 in.) Sheet: 33.8 x 22.5 cm (13 5/16 x 8 7/8 in.); Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund; 1988-4-17

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Making Design.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2DtBp/
Accession Number 1988-4-17
Object ID 18628521