Albrecht Dürer, designer

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.