Rembrant's Hands and a Lion's Paw Book/Bracelet Book/bracelet, Index Booklet, Box, Case

Designers Lia Duinkers and Lyske Gais, are fascinated by the details Rembrandt achieved in his depiction of hands. From hundreds of images of Rembrandt’s hand illustrations, they created an intriguing book-bracelet, an intricate piece that not only pays homage to the talent of Rembrandt, but also spotlights the genius of Duinker and Gais’s skills in graphic design, bookbinding, and jewelry design. Entitled “Rembrandt’s Hands and a Lion’s Paw” the book-bracelet is comprised of 1400 miniature pictures of hands derived from 303 Rembrandt etchings and drawings in the collection of the Rikjsmuseum and available as high-resolution images on the museum’s website.
Duinker and Gais focused on the book-binding and jewelry making processes through which the book-bracelet was developed. Originally conceived as a necklace, the designers ultimately chose to make a bracelet as the form evolved during the binding process. Their starting point was the book-binding technique of stitching pages tightly into signatures, which when sewn together could encircle the wrist to form a bracelet. The binding technique employed was a variation of a traditional cross-stitch known in Dutch as “brocheersteek”. Page edges were treated in one of three ways: gilding, sanding, and left as is. Each page is numbered, its illustration referrenced in a tiny companion index booklet. The bracelet is completed by black leather-covered covers and a gold clasp.
The bracelet is stored in a hand-constructed box made of a very hard, dense sheet cardboard that has been slightly chamfered at the corners, which is then covered with black calf leather and lined with red suede. All the work on the covers and box was hand done by Ben Elbel of Elbel Litho, a workshop for specialty binding in Amsterdam. Duinker and Gais then designed a case made of the warm-toned exotic wood padauk to contain the book bracelet and its box. For their inspired efforts on this object, the designers won the Rijksmuseum’s 2015 Rikjsstudio Award.

Rembrant's Hands and a Lion's Paw Book/Bracelet Book/bracelet, Index Booklet, Box, Case; Designed by Duinker & Dochters; paper, gilding, thread, leather, magnets, gold (bracelet); leather-covered cardboard, suede (box); padauk wood, leather (case); L x W x D (bracelet): 16.5 × 2 × 3.3 cm (6 1/2 × 13/16 × 1 5/16 in.) H x W x D (index booklet): 2 × 2 × 3.3 cm (13/16 × 13/16 × 1 5/16 in.) L x W x D (box): 19.5 × 3.8 × 2.5 cm (7 11/16 in. × 1 1/2 in. × 1 in.) L x W x D (case): 21 × 5 × 4 cm (8 1/4 × 1 15/16 × 1 9/16 in.); Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund; 2017-70-1-a/e