King David Enthroned and a Jewelled Initial, Brussels, Antique Print, 1849
€ 250
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1849
Mapmaker / artist
Comte Horace de Viel-Castel (draughtsman), Kellerhoven (lithographer)
Publisher
Administration, 5 rue du Pont-de-Lodi, Paris (chromolithographed by Lemercier, Paris)
Technique
Chromolithograph
Coloring
Printed color
Sheet size
21 × 28 cm (8.3 × 11.0 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-12228-2-31
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
Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and right edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete.
About this sheet
Two panels side by side on a horizontal sheet. At the left a crowned king sits on a cushioned throne with a sceptre, a young soldier standing before him in a short red tunic with a spear, both against a flat blue ground. At the right a great initial of looped gold interlace is set in a blue and crimson panel, with the words CCE UNUS PAU lettered in white capitals beneath it. The sheet is lettered as coming from the Library of Burgundy at Brussels.
The plate belongs to the second volume of Lacroix and Sere's Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance, Paris, 1849, a work that set out to describe the manners, trades, sciences, letters and fine arts of Europe between the fall of Rome and the end of the sixteenth century. Each sheet was drawn from the original object or manuscript and printed in chromolithography, a process still new in 1849 and here used with unusual richness.
The pairing of a narrative miniature with a pure ornament panel on one sheet is unusual and shows both halves of the medieval page at once. The horizontal format is useful, since most of the plates in this volume are upright: it suits a space above a chest, a door or a long bookcase.
Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and right edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete.
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.
