La Pratique de l'Aiguille, page 2 (recto)

This woodcut is page 2 (recto) from Matthias Mignerak's 1605 pattern book *La Pratique de l'Aiguille* — 'The Practice of the Needle' — one of the finest embroidery and lacemaking guides published in early seventeenth-century France. Pattern books like this one were essential tools for professional embroiderers, needleworkers, and their wealthy patrons, serving as both instructional manuals and sources of design inspiration. The Met holds an extensive run of pages from this volume, testifying to its importance as a historical document of decorative arts and textile craft.

As an early page in the book, this recto likely presents introductory material — possibly a title page repeat, a dedication, or one of the earliest geometric or floral grid patterns that would guide a needleworker's hand. Woodcut was the ideal medium for such publications: its crisp, bold lines translated directly into the counted thread grids that embroiderers needed to follow precisely. Mignerak's book belongs to a flourishing European tradition of *modelbücher* (pattern books), and the regularity and elegance of its designs reflect the sophisticated taste of Renaissance and early Baroque decorative culture. The compact dimensions — just over 9 by 7 inches — suggest this was a portable, practical object meant to be handled and used, not merely admired.