These designs for book-jewels were intended to be fashioned in gold and black enamel. The two on the top row feature rings that could be attached to a girdle, chain, or necklace. These metalwork covers also bear the initials of Thomas Wyatt the Younger (TW) and his wife, Joan (IW), which have been incorporated into fluid arabesques, a style fashionable in the English court in the period. The decorative patterns on these and other book-jewels were derived from ornamental motifs found on bookbindings.
Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98–1543)
Designs for Metalwork, ca. 1532–43
Pen and black ink with wash; silhouetted
The British Museum, London, bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane in 1753; SL,5308.8, SL,5308.10, SL,5308.1, SL,5308.5