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Plaque with Butterfly Boy, from 1156-1162 Third Avenue, NYC (demolished circa 1965)

American Art

On View: Steinberg Family Sculpture Garden, 1st Floor

This delightful image of a butterfly-child sipping nectar from blossoms through a straw is cast in low relief with great delicacy. The highly naturalistic though improbable combination of human, insect, and plant life is conceived in the spirit of an Art Nouveau fantasy. This style of decoration, popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, displayed organically flowing, often highly stylize plant forms and found expression not only in architecture, but in design, illustration, and even dress.

CULTURE American
MEDIUM Red terracotta
  • Place Made: United States
    • DATES ca. 1885
    DIMENSIONS 25 x 28 x 7 1/2 in. (63.5 x 71.1 x 19.1 cm)
    COLLECTIONS American Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 69.181
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Frost
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Cast rectangular plaque with head of youth, a butterfly-boy or girl sipping nectar from blossoms through a straw.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Steinberg Family Sculpture Garden, 1st Floor
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
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