Covered Tankard with 16th century ornament 1500 - 1600

Paul Flindt rendered this drawing of a covered tankard with sixteenth-century ornamentation with pen and black ink on paper. The immediate impression is one of intricate detail, a dense network of swirling lines creating a visually rich surface. This ornate patterning is not merely decorative; it's integral to the tankard's form. Flindt employs a structural language of signs, where each motif—the grotesque mask, the fruiting garlands, and the avian crest—contributes to an elaborate cultural code. The absence of color directs our attention to the line itself, its varying thickness and direction giving depth and texture to the design. This emphasis challenges a purely functional reading, transforming the tankard into a complex semiotic object. Note the curious tension between representation and abstraction, where the tankard's recognizability is almost subsumed by the ornamental exuberance. It's a testament to how the formal elements of line and composition function not only aesthetically but as a reflection of broader philosophical ideas about artifice and nature.