Book cover with overall star pattern
19th century
Medium
Relief print (wood or metal)
Dimensions
Sheet: 7 11/16 × 9 5/8 in. (19.5 × 24.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1940
Accession Number
40.21.60
Art Historical Context
This elegant 19th-century book cover design, created anonymously using a relief print technique from wood or metal, showcases an intricate overall star pattern. Measuring 7 11/16 × 9 5/8 inches, it exemplifies the decorative arts of the period, when books were prized not just for their contents but for their eye-catching bindings that signaled status and craftsmanship. Relief printing, a staple of 19th-century printmaking involved carving raised designs into blocks, inking them, and pressing them onto leather, cloth, or paper covers. This method allowed for affordable, repeatable patterns on ...
About the Artist
Anonymous
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...