Diverses Pieces de Serruriers, page 11 (recto) 1658 - 1668

Curator: Wow, the moment I look at it, I feel like I’m peering into some exquisitely crafted lockbox of secrets! It has that almost hidden, symbolic language thing happening... Editor: I'm drawn to that level of detail! This print, called "Diverses Pieces de Serruriers, page 11", comes to us from the workshop of Jean Berain, dating back to sometime between 1658 and 1668. It’s part of the Met’s collection, and it presents a variety of ornamental designs intended for metalwork. Curator: Ornamental is the word, it is unbelievably baroque, and the contrast, it feels both restrained and chaotic somehow. Editor: Restrained in the sense of the ordered page, but yes, definitely chaotic! I find that this piece utilizes a classical visual vocabulary in such an interesting way: there’s grotesque figures, floral scrolls, and putti – all common motifs— but Berain combines them with, shall we say, almost alarming abundance. It gives it a certain intensity. Curator: Almost alarming! Love that, I find the keyhole a strange point of entry and literally because I'm seeing monstrous half-human faces. What is hidden in the owner's subconscious and in the workshop? It feels very psychoanalytic! Editor: Exactly, it is interesting you picked up on that. Berain's designs, especially his grotesque figures, speak to a broader cultural fascination with transformation, with the porous boundary between the human, animal, and divine. We see these hybrids expressing, perhaps, anxieties about the fixed order of things! Curator: You think? For me, they hint at the constant change and possibility, in what is locked away from plain sight. Editor: That duality is right there on the surface: this print presents possible realities while also conveying something far more elusive about our deepest desires, and creative explorations that can become tangible reality with the smith's hand. Curator: True. These drawings were part of a pattern book for artisans! That speaks volumes of the democratization of visual culture that started at the time. It wasn't all up to the artists, craftsmen and metalworkers added their two cents to their beauty and aesthetic choices. Editor: In this sense, the object isn't just beautiful and intriguing; it makes me wonder about our own anxieties of being defined, constrained or revealed!