Design for Pendants, Plate 4 from 'Livre des Ouvrages d'Orfevrerie'

Gilles Légaré

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Just like today, historic jewelry design was influenced by trends. Faceted gemstones were popular in the sixteenth century, while early seventeenth-century jewelry was decorated chiefly in enamel. During the later decades of the seventeenth century, fashion called for diamonds. Opulent chandelier-style earrings and pendants with multiple dangling stones such as those depicted here became extremely popular. This print is part of jeweler Gilles Légaré’s Livre des ouvrages d’orfèvrerie, which showcases ingenious designs in which large diamonds and pearls appear to be held up by ribbons. Each jewel is depicted from both front and back to help fellow goldsmiths understand how the heavy stones could be attached in a secure and elegant manner.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art