'Aer' in a Decorative Border with Birds, from a Series of Circular Designs with the Four Elements

'Aer' in a Decorative Border with Birds, from a Series of Circular Designs with the Four Elements

Crispijn de Passe the Elder

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for a circular plate with the element of Air personified as a figure with a bird perched on his left hand at center. The figure is set in clouds, where four putti heads blow wind towards the center from each corner. This scene is surrounded by a broad band with various birds, including an owl below and a crowned eagle above. Plate 2 from a series of four devoted to the Four Elements.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

'Aer' in a Decorative Border with Birds, from a Series of Circular Designs with the Four Elements'Aer' in a Decorative Border with Birds, from a Series of Circular Designs with the Four Elements'Aer' in a Decorative Border with Birds, from a Series of Circular Designs with the Four Elements'Aer' in a Decorative Border with Birds, from a Series of Circular Designs with the Four Elements'Aer' in a Decorative Border with Birds, from a Series of Circular Designs with the Four Elements

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.