Micrographic Design in the Shape of a Spiral
early 17th century
Medium
Pen and black and brown ink.
Dimensions
Overall: 6 3/4 × 11 1/16 in. (17.1 × 28.1 cm)
Classification
Albums|Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Daniel Ergmann Gift, 2014
Accession Number
2014.96(6)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints collection, this *Micrographic Design in the Shape a Spiral* dates to the early 17 century. Crafted with penwork in black and brown ink a modest sheet measuring 6 3/4 × 11 1/16 inches, it exemplifies ornamental ingenuity. The artwork's classification an album drawing in the Ornament & Architecture category its role in decorative traditions, where abstract forms this hypnotic spiral served as patterns for textiles, manuscripts, or architectural embellishments. Micrography, the virtuoso technique employed here, involves weaving tin...
About the Artist
Anonymous
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...