Banner Given by Pope Leo the Tenth to Zurich, Antique Print, 1849

A banner in four bands of color: an orange field at the top carrying a cross, then a central panel on a gold ground in which two angels crown the Virgin, with the dove of the Holy Spirit above and the arms of Zurich on a chequered floor below, and at the foot a band of blue damask patterned in arabesque. The sheet is lettered as the banner given by Leo the Tenth to the city of Zurich, in the Town Hall of Zurich.

This is one of the chromolithographic plates of Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance, second volume, Paris, 1849, edited by Paul Lacroix with Ferdinand Sere as artistic director. The work was among the first large French publications to rely on color lithography throughout, and its plates were drawn directly from manuscripts, textiles, armor and goldsmiths' work in the public collections of Paris, Brussels and the German cities.

Leo the Tenth gave banners to the Swiss cantons for the service of their soldiers to the papacy, and the Zurich banner is one of the few that survived the Reformation in that city. The strong bands of orange, gold and blue make it among the most graphic sheets in the volume. It is the natural plate for a Swiss buyer and an easy one to hang anywhere.

Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the right and top 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.