Blackwork Print with a Bezel Supporting Grotesques Above Three Smaller Bezels, from a Series of Blackwork Prints for Goldsmiths' Work 1615

Etienne Carteron created this blackwork print around 1615, showcasing intricate designs intended for goldsmiths. The composition immediately strikes you with its dense ornamentation. Notice how Carteron uses stark contrasts between black and white to define complex, symmetrical patterns. The large bezel form is filled with curvilinear motifs, creating a visual tension between order and complexity. The placement of grotesques and smaller bezels adds a layer of semiotic richness. These figures, part human and part fantastical, challenge fixed categories, destabilizing established notions of beauty and the natural world. They reflect a broader interest in the grotesque as a site of creative possibility and transgression, popular during the late Renaissance. Carteron's formal arrangement, playing with symmetry and asymmetry, speaks to the period's engagement with new ways of thinking about form and representation. The tension he creates invites us to question the boundaries between decoration and meaning, between the real and the imagined.