Blackwork Print with Three Crosses and Foliate Scrolls, from a Series of Blackwork Prints for Goldsmiths' Work

Blackwork Print with Three Crosses and Foliate Scrolls, from a Series of Blackwork Prints for Goldsmiths' Work

Etienne Carteron

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Blackwork design with a large cross at center flanked by smaller crosses and pairs of vertical motifs, all with Schweifwerk patterns. At upper left and right, foliate scrolls with flowers and sprays of pea-pod elements. Plate 4 from a series of eight plates published in Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne (Ain) with blackwork designs for goldsmiths' work.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Blackwork Print with Three Crosses and Foliate Scrolls, from a Series of Blackwork Prints for Goldsmiths' WorkBlackwork Print with Three Crosses and Foliate Scrolls, from a Series of Blackwork Prints for Goldsmiths' WorkBlackwork Print with Three Crosses and Foliate Scrolls, from a Series of Blackwork Prints for Goldsmiths' WorkBlackwork Print with Three Crosses and Foliate Scrolls, from a Series of Blackwork Prints for Goldsmiths' WorkBlackwork Print with Three Crosses and Foliate Scrolls, from a Series of Blackwork Prints for Goldsmiths' Work

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.