La Pratique de l'Aiguille, page 53 (recto)

Art Historical Context

This woodcut comes from *La Pratique de l’Aiguille* (“The Practice of the Needle”), a 1605 instructional book on embroidery and needlework published in France. Created by designer Matthias Mignerak and printed by Pierre Firens and Jean Le Clerc, the volume was dedicated to Queen Marie de’ Medici, reflecting the era’s courtly interest in refined domestic arts. Page 53 (recto) displays an ornamental design featuring grapes and acorns, typical of the decorative motifs offered to readers as patterns for stitching. As a woodcut, the image was carved into a wooden block and printed on paper, a technique well suited to reproducing repeatable designs for amateur and professional needleworkers alike. Such pattern books played an important role in spreading fashionable ornament across Europe during the early seventeenth century, allowing women to translate printed motifs into luxurious embroidered textiles. Today the sheet is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of drawings and prints, where it offers visitors a glimpse into the intersection of printmaking, fashion, and female accomplishment at the French court.

About the Artist

Matthias Mignerak|Pierre Firens|Marie de Medici|Jean Le Clerc (Italian| | |French) · 1575 | | |1641 –1642 | | |1641

Florence 1575–1642 Colgne| | |French, born Paris 1641