Borders are an architectural device more than a decorative one, and Rousseau Border is drawn on that understanding. At 52 cm it is deep, closer to a frieze than a trim, and it carries the same painted vignettes of palms and animals on a craquelure ground as the wallpaper it accompanies. Borders fell out of use for a period and are worth reconsidering, since they solve problems in a room that paint alone cannot.
Used at the top of a wall it lowers a high ceiling and gives a room a horizontal line where the architecture provides none. Run above a dado it can carry a plain paper below and give a hall proportion. It coordinates directly with the Rousseau wallpaper, and equally with the plain Trianon where the frieze is to do the work alone.
The drawing is the same porcelain-derived vignette work: single-colour scenes within ornamental frames, the crackle glaze suggested by fine drawn crazing. Because it is applied horizontally it is worth setting out on the wall before pasting, so that the cartouches turn each corner on a whole motif rather than a fragment. In a hall, on a stair or in a dining room it does more for the proportions than a cornice alone. It can also frame a single panel of paper where a full wall is not wanted.
