Le Pierre Grave, Kerner Hand Colored Grape Engraving, circa 1811
€ 1 120
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
circa 1811
Mapmaker / artist
Johann Simon von Kerner
Publisher
Johann Simon von Kerner, Stuttgart
Technique
Stipple engraving
Coloring
Original hand color
Sheet size
59.5 × 48.2 cm (23.4 × 19.0 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14458-3
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Even age toning. Handling soiling along the right edge. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the left and right.
About this sheet
This antique stipple engraving, finished by hand in watercolor and body color, of the grape variety Le Pierre Grave comes from Johann Simon von Kerner's Le Raisin, ses especes et varietes, made at Stuttgart about 1811. The sheet shows a short length of vine cane at the left, a single large leaf turning deep red at its margins above a loose bunch of blue black berries, the tendril drawn with a fine dry brush and two individual berries, one dark and one pale, set below the bunch.
The sheet is one of the grape studies made for Le Raisin, ses especes et varietes by Johann Simon von Kerner, Stuttgart, circa 1811, a work conceived as a complete painted record of the vine varieties then grown in Germany and beyond. The paper carries the C and I Honig watermark.
The reddening leaf is the point of this sheet. Kerner painted his vines from life through the season and recorded the autumn color of the foliage as carefully as the fruit, because leaf color was one of the characters by which growers told one variety from another before any scientific ampelography existed. Each sheet combines a stipple engraving with hand painting in watercolor and body color, and the hand finishing is what gives the color a depth that printing alone could not reach in this period. The sheets are large, and the plain unpainted ground around each composition is part of the design. Framed simply and hung where it gets side light, the body color on the berries lifts off the sheet. It suits a study, a dining room or any interior where a single large botanical image is wanted rather than a grid of small ones.
Even age toning. Handling soiling along the right edge. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the left and right.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
