Cartouches
Cartouches is an ornament pattern book by Nicolas Pineau, published in Paris around 1720 by Mariette for designers and craftsmen working in the French rococo style. Its plates show empty frames of scrolling, shell-like rococo ornament with the central field left blank for lettering or a picture, arranged several to a page in engraved line work. A designer could take from them the asymmetrical C and S scroll silhouettes, the shell and acanthus knots at the joints, and the way the open centres leave room for text or an image.
