Blackwork Designs with Flowers, Plate 6 from a Series of Blackwork Ornaments combined with Figures, Birds, Animals and Flowers
Medium
Blackwork and Engraving
Dimensions
7 3/4 × 11 7/16 × 1/8 in. (19.7 × 29 × 0.3 cm) Plate: 5 13/16 × 7 7/8 in. (14.8 × 20 cm)
Classification
Albums|Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1950
Accession Number
50.562.103(5)
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite engraving, Plate 6 from a series of Blackwork Ornaments, showcases the intricate decorative sensibilities of the early seventeenth century. Created after 1622, it belongs to a collaborative effort involving artists such as Meinert Gelijs, Jakob Hoefnagel, and the renowned Jacques Callot. The print features delicate floral motifs rendered in dense, lace-like patterns, blending botanical elegance with the series’ broader themes of figures, birds, and animals. Such designs served as pattern books, influencing embroidery, metalwork, and other decorative arts across Europe during the...