Modelbuch aller Art Nehens vn Stickens (Page 14r)
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
Overall: 7 5/16 x 5 5/16 in. (18.5 x 13.5 cm)
Classification
Books|Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1933
Accession Number
33.69(14v)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the intricate world of 16th-century design with page 14r from *Modelbuch aller Art Nehens vn Stickens* (Pattern Book of All Kinds of Embroidery), created by Frankfurt printer Christian Egenolff in 1535. This woodcut print, measuring just 7 5/16 x 5 5/16 inches, belongs to a practical guide for artisans, offering repeatable motifs for needlework, weaving, and other crafts. Egenolff, a pioneering publisher, produced affordable books like this to share artistic patterns across Europe during the early Renaissance. The page bursts with nature-inspired designs: fish, frogs, insects, scorp...
About the Artist
Christian Egenolff · 1502–1555
Christian Egenolff (1502–1555) was one of the most important and influential printers of sixteenth-century Germany, a figure whose significance extends from the history of the book to the visual arts of the early modern period. Born in Hadamar, he learned the printing trade before establishing himself in Frankfurt am Main, where he would build a publishing house of lasting consequence. Egenolff w...