Dessins de Joaillerie et de Bijouterie

Dessins de Joaillerie et de Bijouterie

René Boyvin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Boyvin’s book of jewelry designs was one of the first to be devoted exclusively to the subject of jewelry. While the designer of the series is unknown, the jewelry pieces closely follow the whimsical and highly ornate style of the Italian artist Rosso Fiorentino, who was court artist to the French king Francis I at the castle of Fontainebleau. This print shows two versions of a book-shaped pendant, possibly referring to the Old and New Testaments.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dessins de Joaillerie et de BijouterieDessins de Joaillerie et de BijouterieDessins de Joaillerie et de BijouterieDessins de Joaillerie et de BijouterieDessins de Joaillerie et de Bijouterie

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.