Eyn new kunstlichboich, page 17r 1529

This is page 17r from "Eyn new kunstlich boich", printed in Cologne by Peter Quentel in the first half of the 16th century. It’s a woodcut pattern book, intended to provide designs for artisans and needleworkers. The image presents a series of geometric patterns, rendered in a stark black and white contrast that would have been relatively cheap to produce. These designs, featuring diamonds, stars and floral motifs, reflect the period’s fascination with symmetry and order but they would primarily be used as guides for various crafts, from embroidery to tapestry. In a pre-industrial world, these publications played a vital role in disseminating artistic ideas and standardizing visual culture across regions. The book itself is an artifact of a rising merchant class, eager to display its wealth through refined crafts and textiles. Studying the history of printing technology, combined with an analysis of sumptuary laws and social customs, can illuminate how such pattern books shaped the visual landscape of the Renaissance.