untitled (Maskeron)

Sebald Beham, artist

1500–1550

untitled (Maskeron), 1543

Where object was made: Holy Roman Empire (present-day Germany)

Material/technique: engraving

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 51 x 78 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 2 x 3 1/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 x 14 in

Credit line: Museum purchase

Accession number: 1969.0008

Not on display

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Foliate heads, also known as leaf masks, originated in Roman architectural sculpture at the end of the first or beginning of the second century, and reappeared in church ornamentation during the fifth and sixth centuries. Later, artists such as Sebald Beham and Cornelis Floris included foliate heads in their designs for ornamental mascaron grotesque (grotesque faces), as seen in Beham’s engraving here. These creatures offer a bridge between the seemingly dissimilar worlds of plants and animals. Additionally, they give audiences a chance to contemplate the relationship between plants and humans in ways that are typically ignored or even discouraged in Christian and Humanistic worldviews. Today, many different traditions have combined to form a somewhat unified concept of the “Green Man,” as depicted in the adjacent work by Kahn & Selesnick.