Designs for Four Rings, Plate 33 from 'Livre d'Aneaux d'Orfevrerie' 1561

Pierre Woeiriot de Bouzey II created this design for four rings as Plate 33 from 'Livre d'Aneaux d'Orfevrerie'. This image gives us a glimpse into the world of 16th-century jewelry design, reflecting the values and aesthetics of the time. The rings themselves, adorned with human figures, embody the Renaissance fascination with classical antiquity and the human form. Made in France, these designs point to the rising status of goldsmiths and jewelers, who catered to the desires of a wealthy elite and nobility eager to flaunt their status through fashionable and precious accessories. The circulation of such designs through printed books also suggests the increasing professionalization of the arts, and the new importance of design as a distinct intellectual activity. To understand the significance of these designs, historians consult not only the objects themselves, but also period documents, inventories, and sumptuary laws that regulated dress and consumption. Only then can the social and institutional context of these objects be understood.