Modelbuch aller Art Nehens vn Stickens (Page 6r) 1535

Editor: So, here we have "Modelbuch aller Art Nehens vn Stickens (Page 6r)" created around 1535 by Christian Egenolff. It’s a woodcut print from a medieval model book. It feels very...orderly, but with a touch of whimsy in the animal figures. What do you see in this piece that might escape a first glance? Curator: Well, the neatness, I suspect, is deliberate, like a carefully planned garden, though the animal forms are quite free, aren’t they? What strikes me is this incredible interplay between geometry and the natural world. It’s a testament, really, to the Renaissance desire to find order within the chaos. What I’m really wondering is: what purpose did the modelbook serve? Was it purely functional? Editor: I suppose so, it gives patterns, but could it also be a status symbol to own? Like, "Look at my awesome embroidery skills!" Curator: Precisely! And you wonder if there was any room to move within these templates, right? Or were you following instructions literally? If this book landed in my hands, my first thought wouldn’t be about following instructions. Editor: True! So, it’s both a guide and an aspirational object? It kind of explodes the modern idea of "originality," doesn’t it? Because everyone would be copying the same designs. Curator: Precisely. Perhaps that’s its strange attraction to us now: we expect to be so original. What I find exciting is trying to understand what *that* felt like. It suggests that something communal got lost along the way in our fascination with the individual… Don't you think? Editor: I’m so with you. It's a little less pressure to just enjoy a beautiful, shared motif. That's a nice way of looking at it, something communal. Curator: Maybe next time I am wandering the streets, I need to get someone embroider this pattern on me.