maquette

American  

[ma-ket, muh-] / mæˈkɛt, mə- /

noun

1. a small model or study in three dimensions for either a sculptural or an architectural project.

---

maquette British  

/ mæˈkɛt /

noun

1. a sculptor's small preliminary model or sketch

---

Etymology

Origin of maquette

1900–05; < French < Italian macchietta, diminutive of macchia a sketch, complex of lines < Latin macula mesh, spot

Example Sentences

It is a maquette of sorts for a late, unrealized project of Michelangelesque reach: “Chillida planned to hollow out a massive space within the Tindaya Mountain, which would be connected by vertical chutes that would bring light into the cavern and offer views from its deep interior into the world beyond,” writes Ms. Jans.

From The Wall Street Journal

To demonstrate, Close’s meticulously detailed head of mustachioed “Robert,” 9 feet tall, is installed next to its maquette, an enlarged and subdivided black-and-white photograph overlaid with a tight grid.

From Los Angeles Times

It was late December, and we were sitting in a room in his upstate New York studio whose nondescript furniture was dotted with evidence of ongoing work on Venice: a maquette here, paint samples there, a test flag folded loosely in a chair.

From New York Times

Dame Hepworth's brass 1957 sculpture Maquette For Winged Figure also went under the hammer and sold for £277,200.

From BBC

Other works going under the hammer include the Landscape Sculpture, which looks like a stringed instrument, the brass sculpture Maquette For Winged Figure, and an oil and pencil work called Atlantic Form, Blue.

From BBC