Image
Albrecht Dürer, designer
Decorative Pattern, ca. 1507
Description
Maker
- Albrecht Dürer, 1471-1528, German, printmaker
Title
Decorative Pattern
Year
ca. 1507
Medium
Woodcut on paper
Materials/Techniques
-
Materials
Supports
Dimensions
-
27 x 21.1 cm (10 5/8 x 8 5/16 inches) (plate)
Type
Credit
-
Museum Works of Art Fund
Object Number
-
46.514
About
This is one of six woodcuts Albrecht Dürer made of symmetrical, interlacing cord patterns arranged in a circle, copies of Italian engravings seemingly designed by Leonardo. At the beginning of the 1500s, interlaced motifs decorated a variety of objects, including clothing, metalwork, and book covers, and these printed designs may have been used as models for such products. The prints were also appreciated as displays of artistic ingeniousness and graphic intelligence, and suggest an awareness of Islamic designs circulating in Europe through ceramics and textiles. In his journal, Dürer referred to this series as his “knots”; patterns like this were known in Persia as girih, also meaning knots.
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Exhibition History
Exhibition History
Use
The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Decorative Pattern with the accession number of 46.514. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.
Feedback
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