Art Institute of Chicago

Two Warriors, One with a Winged Genie on His Helmet

School of Maso Finiguerra

Date

1475/1500

Medium

Engraving in black on ivory laid paper

Culture

Italy

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This tiny print of fantastically helmeted warriors may have been pulled as a test proof from a plate engraved as a niello, a small precious-metal plate with lines meant to be filled in and heightened with a black enamel-like substance to increase the contrast with the surrounding metal. Prints like this one were sometimes made to record completed designs, and the process is similar to the decorative blackening of parade armor (as in the greave displayed nearby). Very few niello prints survive, as they were part of the process of making metalwork and were never produced in larger numbers.

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