Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

093. Designs for Metalwork

These designs for book-jewels were intended to be fashioned in gold and black enamel. The two on the top row feature rings that could be attached to a girdle, chain, or necklace. These metalwork covers also bear the initials of Thomas Wyatt the Younger (TW) and his wife, Joan (IW), which have been incorporated into fluid arabesques, a style fashionable in the English court in the period. The decorative patterns on these and other book-jewels were derived from ornamental motifs found on bookbindings.

Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98–1543)
Designs for Metalwork, ca. 1532–43
Pen and black ink with wash; silhouetted
The British Museum, London, bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane in 1753; SL,5308.8, SL,5308.10, SL,5308.1, SL,5308.5