Frieze with Grotesques and a Mask Wearing a Whimple and Crown at Center

Frieze with Grotesques and a Mask Wearing a Whimple and Crown at Center

Theodor de Bry

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Horizontal panel with a frieze and ascending and descending ornaments. At center of frieze, a female mask wearing a crown that sprouts two flowers and a whimple ending in swag. Flanking the mask, grotesques with bearded human heads, wings, and egg-shaped bodies. At either side, reclining male figures holding poles, from which hang crabs with faces on their shells.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Frieze with Grotesques and a Mask Wearing a Whimple and Crown at CenterFrieze with Grotesques and a Mask Wearing a Whimple and Crown at CenterFrieze with Grotesques and a Mask Wearing a Whimple and Crown at CenterFrieze with Grotesques and a Mask Wearing a Whimple and Crown at CenterFrieze with Grotesques and a Mask Wearing a Whimple and Crown at Center

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.