Title Plate from "The Introduction of the Silkworm" [Vermis Sericus]

Title Plate from "The Introduction of the Silkworm" [Vermis Sericus]

Karel van Mallery

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Title plate to the series Vermis Sericus, engraved by Karel van Mallery, after Jan van der Straet, called Stradanus, and published by Philips Galle around 1595. The title is printed on a piece of cloth hanging from a silk tree in the center of the page. It is surrounded by four oval medallions, each depicting a different phase of the metamorphosis of a silkworm. The entire illustration is enclosed in an ornamental frame.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Title Plate from "The Introduction of the Silkworm" [Vermis Sericus]Title Plate from "The Introduction of the Silkworm" [Vermis Sericus]Title Plate from "The Introduction of the Silkworm" [Vermis Sericus]Title Plate from "The Introduction of the Silkworm" [Vermis Sericus]Title Plate from "The Introduction of the Silkworm" [Vermis Sericus]

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.