Printed Textile

Art Historical Context

This exquisite 15th-century printed, crafted on fine linen by an unknown German artist, offers a rare glimpse into late medieval craftsmanship. Measuring just 9¼ x 11½ inches, this small fragment from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Medieval Art collection was acquired through the Rogers Fund in 9. Housed among treasures of the Gothic era, it exemplifies the burgeoning artistry of printed textiles in Germany, a time when block-printing techniques were revolutionizing fabric decoration just as movable type transformed books with Gutenberg's innovations around 1450. The use of linen—a lightwei...