09/03/2017

Baroque Transylvanian etching

After the Baroque heart-shaped flowers print that opened the Vintage Art category on my Transylvanian Trove Etsy shop, I have now added another unique engraving from the same period and province.
The new item is a lovely small print after an original eighteenth-century plate with Baroque decoration. It is dated "1766" on the cartouche at the top. Though not all can be easily interpreted, it contains several scenes of daily life: a beggar receiving money from a traveler, two men in Transylvanian oriental costumes drinking under a tree, a man showing a dog an unidentified building and in the center the strangest scene of all: a woman inside a barrel, a man poking inside the barrel with the end of a halberd and another man (a drunk?) crawling out of the same barrel at the other end. 
The etching contains extremely detailed elements.
The reprint was made in 2014 by the National History Museum of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca, Romania after one of the eighteenth century printing plates in its collection. It includes the dry stamped logo of the museum in the right bottom corner. Unknown engraving master. Reprint numbered in pencil 3/I and signed.
Dimensions: printed area: 12.5 x 8.5 cm (4.9 x 3.3 inches), total paper size: 18.5 x 25 cm (7.3 x 9.8 inches).
Not framed, in relatively good condition, small deteriorations of the plate resulting in tiny smudges, slightly wavy paper.


Eighteenth century engraving plate printed in 2014, vintage print, unknown Transylvanian daily life scenes, etching, dry point, must have


Detail of the date "anno 1766"

Detail of the central, unknown scene

Beggar and traveler

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