In this fabric, designer Jean Beaumont uses a lush pattern of oversized exotic florals and foliage, interspersed with stylized animal and human figures, to call forth an idyllic scene of paradise on earth. This, however, is a fleeting paradise, as the female figure (Eve) hands the forbidden fruit to the male (Adam). This sophisticated evocation...

Chinese skirt styles are often called aprons and are typically comprised of two identical sections, each with a decorated panel, a side panel and a pleated or gored panel. They were worn overlapping, wrapped around the body and secured through fabric loops and knotted buttons. The sections were attached to a wide waistband, usually made...

One of many cut paperworks in Cooper Hewitt’s collection made by the same (now anonymous) craftsperson, this incredibly intricate devotional card is an example of the paper-crafting technique scherenschnitte (German for “scissor cuts”).  Frequently used to embellish religious objects representing  saints and other figures well-known to the Catholic, Germanic world of the 18th century,  scherenschnitte...

Green has always been a popular color for printing wallpapers. Floral wallpapers make up by far the largest design group within the department, and how many floral designs do you see without foliage? Many wallpapers bearing a certain shade of yellow-green printed during the nineteenth century are thought to contain arsenic. Green had always been...