Pear-shaped ornament design with a female term and grotesque motifs on a black ground
Etienne Delaune French
Not on view
Engraving, part of a series of 7 pear-shaped ornament designs with grotesque motifs executed on black grounds, created by Étienne Delaune in Strasbourg in 1573. The pear shapes and size of the prints are similar to those of the fashionable jewelry of the time, suggesting that this set was very likely intended as a model for silver and goldsmiths. The design is made up of a female term with wings in the place of arms under a small tent, in the center of the print, and surrounded by scrolling motifs, cornucopias, and thin bundles and garlands of fruits and leaves. On either side is a grotesque dolphin, whose tail merges with the scrolling motifs that fill the design; below them are two undulating serpents.
