Mon Jan 4, 2021 09:54 PM

1/4/2021

I said I’d talk about Honervogt when I mentioned Meyer (Lotz #52) so let’s talk a bit about Lotz #53 and 54 by Jakob Honervogt. They’re both dated 1619 and both called “Folge:Stickmuster” by Lotz. In his discussion of Meyer, Lotz says that, while he can’t locate Meyer, based on a description given in 1891 by Albert Cohn of Daniel Meyer’s 2 books of architectural design, the #52 is probably very similar to Honervogt’s books.

So, what and where are Honervogt’s books? Lotz has #53 at the Berlin Kunstbibliothek and the Paris Bibliotheque D’art. The only copy he has listed for #54 is in Paris. The descriptions have them both at 12 pages. Comparing the descriptions and the sample pages included in Lotz, I’m pretty certain that this compilation of jewelry designs at the Bibliotheque-Numerique is either all or most of both books. https://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/idurl/1/19242

I find it a bit odd, since most of the book is pretty clearly jewelry designs. Lotz addresses this by talking about the inclusion of pearl embroidery in Meyer’s title. Many of the later designs, which would correspond with #54, have some similarities to Bretschneider’s book which was published the same year. What confused me, however, is that Lotz had earlier specifically chosen to not included Pellegrino and other decorative books not explicitly aimed at embroiderers. These books seem much more in that vein. While they could be adapted to embroidery, the designs don’t seem to be for textiles.

It’s an interesting quandary, especially as it seems to apply to 3 of the books.