La Pratique de l'Aiguille, page 15 (recto)

Matthias Mignerak

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Written by Matthias Mignerak, title page engraved by Pierre Firens, French, born Paris 1641, dedicated to Marie de Medici, Florence 1575-1642 Cologne, published by Jean Le Clerc, Paris. From top to bottom, and left to right: Design is printed upon a grid and is decorated with a scene depicting the personification of Summer who plays the lyre. Placed upon the ground are other musical instruments and books.

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