Ornament with Owl Mocked by Day Birds

Ornament with Owl Mocked by Day Birds

Martin Schongauer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Martin Schongauer concealed a sinister narrative within this lively pattern of Gothic leaves. Six birds tucked throughout the ornament caw in derision at an owl, which carries a small bird in its beak. During the late fifteenth century in northern Europe, the carnivorous owl was often associated with negative concepts, such as sin and greed.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ornament with Owl Mocked by Day BirdsOrnament with Owl Mocked by Day BirdsOrnament with Owl Mocked by Day BirdsOrnament with Owl Mocked by Day BirdsOrnament with Owl Mocked by Day Birds

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.