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From the exhibition

Design for Candy Box Cover

· 1880

Design for Candy Box Cover
This ornamental design demonstrates the decorative arts tradition of the late nineteenth century. An oval composition frames a lush garden of flowering plants—dahlias, poppies, and other blooms rendered in watercolor—set before a classical architectural urn. Two cherubic figures crown the monument while insects hover above the flowers. The composition exemplifies the period's taste for pastoral allegory combined with ornate ornamentation, typical of commercial packaging design in the 1880s. Such designs bridged fine art and industrial production, establishing visual conventions that shaped commercial imagery and the emerging illustrated press.

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