Two Brooches with Bird and Winged Snake at Top and Griffins with Vases at Bottom 1596

Daniel Mignot created this print, titled "Two Brooches with Bird and Winged Snake at Top and Griffins with Vases at Bottom," sometime between 1593 and 1616. The composition presents a symmetrical arrangement of brooches, each meticulously detailed with fantastical creatures and geometric patterns. The use of stark contrast between the black ink and the white paper amplifies the intricate linework, drawing our eye to the symbolic interplay between the natural and the mythical. Birds and winged snakes surmount elaborate geometric shapes, balanced by griffins holding vases at the base. Mignot’s arrangement here reflects the Mannerist aesthetic, which prized complexity, artifice, and the blurring of boundaries between the real and the imagined. Each brooch serves as a semiotic device, encoding cultural values, heraldic meanings, and personal narratives within its visual structure. Notice how the precise engraving technique allows Mignot to explore the tension between form and function, inviting viewers to decode the hidden layers of meaning embedded in each carefully rendered motif.