Two Designs for Jewelry
Étienne Delaune
Description
Gallery Rotation Spring 2013
Etienne Delaune
France, 1518/9–1583
Two designs for jewelry
Mid-16th century
Graphite, pen and brown ink with
yellow watercolor, mounted
Museum purchase, 1963/2.6A
Symmetry in design, technical precision, and emphasis on detail characterize these two decorative drawings. One presents a design for a panel and the other designs for two small pieces of jewelry. The panel design is embellished with interlacing foliate patterns and creatures morphing into vegetal motifs, popular in Italy during the second half of the sixteenth century, and was perhaps intended to decorate an object or architecture. The two elegant and detailed jewelry designs by Etienne Delaune, who worked as a goldsmith for King Henry II of France (reigned 1547–59), likewise present symmetrically arranged vegetal and organic forms. They were meant to be executed in precious metals, pearls, and gems, and to serve either as hatpins or hair pieces.
Subject Matter:
These two designs for jewelry would have been used by a silversmith to create the work, possibly incorporating pearls and other precious materials.
Physical Description:
Two vertical designs dominate the drawing. Natural forms such as vines and other vegetal forms create designs that are symmetrical and organized around a central vertical axis.
Usage Rights:
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