A leaf from an Apocalypse blockbook.
Germany, Rhine valley (Cologne or Mainz?), c. 1465]. Single paper leaf (277 x 205 mm). Fol. 23 of Schreiber's edition IV. Printed on one side of the paper only by a rubbing process, in brown ink, with two hand-colored woodcut scenes: in the upper register, the seven-headed Beast receiving power in the form of a scepter from the winged Dragon, who has seven crowned heads and eight horns; woodcut Latin texts on scrolls, from Revelation 13:2 and 13:3; the signature "M" appearing under the lowermost left-hand text banner. The lower register shows humanity, represented by six men, worshipping the dragon. The woodcut text is from Revelation 13:4 and from the commentary of Berengaudus. Contemporary coloring in green, yellow, orange, russet and brown. No visible watermark. Condition: upper left margin torn and repaired with slight loss to text. Provenance: unidentified collector's stamp "A B" on a shield with a flowering plant (on verso). Six surviving "editions" or sets of blocks of the Apocalypse blockbook, produced mainly in the 1460's and 1470s, have been identified. Schreiber's editions I-III were produced in the Netherlands. The attribution of his edition IV, to which this leaf belongs, is generally accepted as the German Rhine valley; possible localizations of Köln or Mainz have been offered more recently (cf. Ursula Bauermeister in the Catalogue des Incunables de la Bibliothèque nationale [CIBN] AA-2). The Apocalypse series, ranked by Hind first among the blockbooks in artistic quality, illustrates the Book of Revelation. The blockbook artist/editors incorporated an abbreviated form of the Biblical text, along with excerpts from the 9th-century gloss of Berngaudus, into the woodcut image. All the Apocalypse editions preserve an archaic 13th-century iconography and textual tradition. Precise identification of manuscript sources of the different Apocalypse blockbooks has been the object of extensive scholarly discussion. W. L. Schreiber, Manuel de l'amateur de la gravure sur bois et sur métal au XVe siècle (Leipzig, 1902), IV: 160-165 and 191. Cf. Hind I: 218-224; CIBN AA-2 (for an extensive bibliography); Gertrud Bing, "The Apocalypse Block-Books and their Manuscript Models," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes vol. 5 (1942):143-58.
A leaf from an Apocalypse blockbook.
Germany, Rhine valley (Cologne or Mainz?), c. 1465]. Single paper leaf (277 x 205 mm). Fol. 23 of Schreiber's edition IV. Printed on one side of the paper only by a rubbing process, in brown ink, with two hand-colored woodcut scenes: in the upper register, the seven-headed Beast receiving power in the form of a scepter from the winged Dragon, who has seven crowned heads and eight horns; woodcut Latin texts on scrolls, from Revelation 13:2 and 13:3; the signature "M" appearing under the lowermost left-hand text banner. The lower register shows humanity, represented by six men, worshipping the dragon. The woodcut text is from Revelation 13:4 and from the commentary of Berengaudus. Contemporary coloring in green, yellow, orange, russet and brown. No visible watermark. Condition: upper left margin torn and repaired with slight loss to text. Provenance: unidentified collector's stamp "A B" on a shield with a flowering plant (on verso). Six surviving "editions" or sets of blocks of the Apocalypse blockbook, produced mainly in the 1460's and 1470s, have been identified. Schreiber's editions I-III were produced in the Netherlands. The attribution of his edition IV, to which this leaf belongs, is generally accepted as the German Rhine valley; possible localizations of Köln or Mainz have been offered more recently (cf. Ursula Bauermeister in the Catalogue des Incunables de la Bibliothèque nationale [CIBN] AA-2). The Apocalypse series, ranked by Hind first among the blockbooks in artistic quality, illustrates the Book of Revelation. The blockbook artist/editors incorporated an abbreviated form of the Biblical text, along with excerpts from the 9th-century gloss of Berngaudus, into the woodcut image. All the Apocalypse editions preserve an archaic 13th-century iconography and textual tradition. Precise identification of manuscript sources of the different Apocalypse blockbooks has been the object of extensive scholarly discussion. W. L. Schreiber, Manuel de l'amateur de la gravure sur bois et sur métal au XVe siècle (Leipzig, 1902), IV: 160-165 and 191. Cf. Hind I: 218-224; CIBN AA-2 (for an extensive bibliography); Gertrud Bing, "The Apocalypse Block-Books and their Manuscript Models," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes vol. 5 (1942):143-58.
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
