Title for "Grateske voer golt smeden Schrijnwerkers Ende andere des nodich hebbende"

Meinert Gelijs

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Title page to a print series displaying motifs for application in goldsmith's work, executed in blackwork. Due to the similarity in their production techniques, blackwork prints often relate to precious objects decorated with champlevé enamel work. Gelijs indicates, however, that his patterns may be used in other disciplines as well. The style of his ornaments is quite unique, blending elements from the late sixteenth-century schweifwerk ornament, with stylized peapods, floral elements and some forms related to the auricular style. This series is one of two series known by Gelijs, and is characterized by the almost square copperplates and exclusive use of the blackwork technique. The second series, which has been bound in a single binding with this series in the Met's collection, lacks a title plate, but is characterized by larger rectangular plates, and a combination of Gelijs' characteristic ornaments with figures and other motifs borrowed from other print series, executed in etching.

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