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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

  • woodcut

Supports

  • Light weight cream laid paper

Dimensions

27 x 21.1 cm (10 5/8 x 8 5/16 inches) (plate)

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Prints

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

German Renaissance Graphics from the Museum's Collection

November 28, 1961 - January 7, 1962

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

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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