Bound Volume, Designs for various ornaments : vases, figures, medallions, friezes, pilasters, and other ornaments in the Etruscan and grotesque styles

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from The Morgan Library & Museum as part of Mr. Pergolesi's Curious Things.

Pergolesi first advertised his ornament prints in June of 1777, alerting potential clients to his plan to publish them monthly: he promised to produce 12 sets of five prints each, for a total of 60 prints published over the course of a single year. Instead, Pergolesi would work on this project until his death in 1801, at which point he had published 67 prints. He dedicated the earliest prints to the Duke of Northumberland, his patron at Syon House in London. Pergolesi sold the prints from his shop in London’s Golden Square, the center of the Italian émigré community. Many collectors of these prints had them bound together, as in this example.

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Mr. Pergolesi's Curious Things.