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Object Timeline

1944

  • We acquired this object.

2015

2026

  • You found it!

Print, The First Knot (Interlace Pattern with White Medallion)

This is a Print. It was print maker: Albrecht Dürer. It is dated before 1521 and we acquired it in 1944. Its medium is woodcut on off-white laid paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

INT:



Despite comparisons to Leonardo da Vinci

for his intellectual curiosity, Albrecht Dürer

was less motivated by the terrestrial world

than by a spiritual exploration of the human

soul. Some art historians theorize that Dürer’s

cord patterns represented a very personal

inquiry into the infinite knot of birth, death,

and rebirth. (IDEO)

Wall label from exhibition, “IDEO Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection,” Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York, NY.

It is credited Museum purchase through gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.

  • Cut Paper, Noah's Ark
  • cut black paper.
  • This acquisition was made possible through the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation.
  • 1985-22-1

Our curators have highlighted 3 objects that are related to this one.

  • Knotted Chair Chair
  • H x W x D: 70.8 x 53.3 x 63.5 cm (27 7/8 x 21 x 25 in.).
  • Gift of Cappellini.
  • 2008-23-1

Its dimensions are

27.4 x 21.3 cm (10 13/16 x 8 3/8 in.)

Cite this object as

Print, The First Knot (Interlace Pattern with White Medallion); Print Maker: Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528); Germany; woodcut on off-white laid paper; 27.4 x 21.3 cm (10 13/16 x 8 3/8 in.); Museum purchase through gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt; 1944-37-1-a

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18571547/ |title=Print, The First Knot (Interlace Pattern with White Medallion) |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=17 January 2026 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>