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Design for a Mass Card Stand

c. 1760
Workshop of Luigi Valadier (Italian, 1726–1785)
There are few designs for decorative-arts objects in the Museum's Italian drawings collection. This sheet, a design for a Mass card holder for a church altar, is from the workshop of the most important Roman gold- and silversmith of the eighteenth century. Valadier's shop produced a variety of objects for noble and princely patrons, both secular and ecclesiastical, from monumental commissions such as altarpieces to small-scale domestic items such as inkstands, salvers, tableware, and candlesticks.

Object Details

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