Rocaille
Rocaille is the art- historical term for shell-shaped ornaments . Connections with leaf and tendril decorations are common . The word rocaille comes from French and means “shell work”. The rococo is also called style rocaille in French . The term Rocailles also refers to embroidery beads .
Shell grottos
The first Rocailles were the grottos of palace complexes from the Renaissance period in the 16th century . They were not only lined with limestone , marble , pebbles and other stones, but also with natural or artistically designed shells and shells of sea snails, often in bizarre shapes . One example is like a cave decorated cave room at the New Palace in Potsdam (1765).
ornament
From 1730, the rocaille developed in France as an independent decorative element, mostly asymmetrical, always scroll-like or shell-like. It can be found as stucco decoration , on paneling , on furniture and porcelain . It gained great importance in the Rococo in the palace and church decoration in southern Germany. Franz Anton Bustelli , who established the fame of the Nymphenburg porcelain manufactory and is considered to be the finisher of Rococo porcelain sculpture, used it not only as an ornament, but also as an object design element.
Rocaille
Window with asymmetrical rocaille decoration in Obermarchtal
Aachen-Liège wardrobe with Rocaille, Couven-Museum , Aachen
literature
- Hermann Bauer : Rocaille. On the origin and essence of an ornament motif. (= New Munich Contributions to Art History. Vol. 4). De Gruyter, Berlin 1962 (preview on Google Books; standard work; not evaluated).
- Jan Pieper: Shellwork and sea cartouches. The origin of some of the rococo leitmotifs from the “coquilles rivagées” and the “cartouches marines” in French baroque shipbuilding . In: INSITU. Zeitschrift für Architekturgeschichte 4 (2/2012), pp. 221–252.
