Oval Pendant Decorated with Schweifwerk, Surrounded by Smaller Motifs and Four Birds

Oval Pendant Decorated with Schweifwerk, Surrounded by Smaller Motifs and Four Birds

Jacques Hurtu

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Part of a series of 6 with goldsmiths designs executed in the blackwork technique. Design for an oval pendant, presumably the reverse of a watch case or medaillon, decorated with Schweifwerk. The design is surrounded by four smaller motifs with enamel designs, the top two are heart-shaped. The print is filled with engraved, decorative motifs including four birds resting on meandering grass-like helms.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Oval Pendant Decorated with Schweifwerk, Surrounded by Smaller Motifs and Four BirdsOval Pendant Decorated with Schweifwerk, Surrounded by Smaller Motifs and Four BirdsOval Pendant Decorated with Schweifwerk, Surrounded by Smaller Motifs and Four BirdsOval Pendant Decorated with Schweifwerk, Surrounded by Smaller Motifs and Four BirdsOval Pendant Decorated with Schweifwerk, Surrounded by Smaller Motifs and Four 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.