Fantastic Headdresses

These outlandish grotesque masks or headdresses -- looking like operatic design drawings or maybe a stoned costumer 's submission for 'Eyes Wide Shut'* -- are from a suite of twenty engravings after Denis Boutemie from 1638.

The work is entitled: 'Ouvrage Rare et Nouveau Contenant Plusieurs Desseins de Marveilleuse Recreation sous Diverses Caprices et Gentilesses' (known as Fantastic Headdresses), sourced from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

All of the available images from the collection have been posted and some background artefact has been removed. A later reversed version of the final image above was seen here previously, so it was great to accidentally discover the original engravings. I had been searching around on Boutemie after finding another whimsical (but different) set of his prints, which I'll post in the next day or so is here: The Genre of the Monstrous.