Europe] - DECKER, Paul, the younger - Laconischer Spiegel Europae, in welchem IX
Rare and fascinating print series about national characteristics in the 18th c. Very rare complete copy (incl. the sheet of letterpress with the German text, usually lacking) of a splendid print series, representing 9 countries through court scenes with allegorical figures. Each scene has the name of the country below and a coat-of-arms above and is surrounded by an elaborate border, architectural, decorative or with military attributes. The border contains about 25 cartouches, each devoted to a kind of trait with a short description of relevant characteristics of the country concerned : appearance, strongest field of scholarship, clothes, weakness, love, sickness, resource, favourite pastime, animals whose nature is most similar to theirs, zodiac sign, temperament, burial habits, etc. They reflect age-old prejudices and occasional truths on cultural epitome, phrenology-like pseudo-science, tourist guide book etc. The countries covered are Spain, France, Italy, Germany, England, Sweden, Poland, Hungary and Russia. The pastimes indicate that Germans drink, Englishmen work, Swedes eat, Russians sleep, Poles fight etc.: an accumulation of prejudicial insults and compliments for all ! The texts in the plates are in Latin but the present copy includes the extr. rare German trsl. on the letterpress sheet. The 9 scenes were drawn by P. Decker the younger (1685-1742) and all but England give the name of its engraver : Philip Andreas Kilian, Johann Georg Pinz, Andreas Hoffer of Christian Friedrich Lottes. T.-p. calligraphed and engraved by Johann Friedrich Liehzelt. Only Kilian's plates are dated (Spain 1736, Poland 1737).
Europe] - DECKER, Paul, the younger - Laconischer Spiegel Europae, in welchem IX
Rare and fascinating print series about national characteristics in the 18th c. Very rare complete copy (incl. the sheet of letterpress with the German text, usually lacking) of a splendid print series, representing 9 countries through court scenes with allegorical figures. Each scene has the name of the country below and a coat-of-arms above and is surrounded by an elaborate border, architectural, decorative or with military attributes. The border contains about 25 cartouches, each devoted to a kind of trait with a short description of relevant characteristics of the country concerned : appearance, strongest field of scholarship, clothes, weakness, love, sickness, resource, favourite pastime, animals whose nature is most similar to theirs, zodiac sign, temperament, burial habits, etc. They reflect age-old prejudices and occasional truths on cultural epitome, phrenology-like pseudo-science, tourist guide book etc. The countries covered are Spain, France, Italy, Germany, England, Sweden, Poland, Hungary and Russia. The pastimes indicate that Germans drink, Englishmen work, Swedes eat, Russians sleep, Poles fight etc.: an accumulation of prejudicial insults and compliments for all ! The texts in the plates are in Latin but the present copy includes the extr. rare German trsl. on the letterpress sheet. The 9 scenes were drawn by P. Decker the younger (1685-1742) and all but England give the name of its engraver : Philip Andreas Kilian, Johann Georg Pinz, Andreas Hoffer of Christian Friedrich Lottes. T.-p. calligraphed and engraved by Johann Friedrich Liehzelt. Only Kilian's plates are dated (Spain 1736, Poland 1737).
Try LotSearch and its premium features for 7 days - without any costs!
Be notified automatically about new items in upcoming auctions.
Create an alert
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
