Oval Pendant or Case and Two Bezel Designs

Giovanni Battista Costantini

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Print from a series of six with goldsmith's designs in blackwork. This print shows designs for three elements of goldsmith's work, placed in a seascape with fantastical water creatures. In the center an oval design for a case or pendant is presented. It is surrounded by a slim cartouche made up out of leaves and masks. On the top of the page, two figures sprout forward from the plant shoots. They each hold up a bezel design. On the bottom of the page, a seascape is shown with fantastical water creatures and sirens.

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