Brooch with Winged Fauns Blowing Trumpets at Top and Fantasy Creatures with Birds at Bottom 1596

Daniel Mignot, a French printmaker, created this print intended for jewelry design sometime between the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At the time, the Protestant Reformation had caused widespread religious and political upheaval, and many artists like Mignot left France. Ornament prints like this one allowed artists to disseminate their ideas and find work across Europe. The fauns and fantastical creatures reflect the tastes of the aristocratic patrons who commissioned elaborate jewelry as a display of wealth and power. Yet the artist imbeds more complex meaning through his choice of mythical figures. Hybrid creatures that are part human, part animal, are here to remind us of the porous boundary between the natural world and human artifice. Mignot plays with visual paradoxes of wildness and control, nature and culture, in his elegant design. This ornamental print invites us to consider how the motifs and symbols we choose to adorn ourselves with reflect cultural values and our own ever-changing identities.