Bronze Pillars and the Molten Sea of Solomon's Temple, Mortier, circa 1700

This original copperplate engraving from Pieter Mortier's illustrated Bible, Amsterdam circa 1700, shows two biblical scenes on one sheet: 1 Kings 7, the altar, the laver and the bronze pillars, and 1 Kings 7:23, the Molten Sea. The upper scene illustrates 1 Kings chapter 7, the altar, the laver and the bronze pillars of Solomon's Temple. The architectural view shows the great stepped altar, one of the wheeled bronze lavers and the two free standing pillars before the Temple facade, with priests moving across the court.

The lower scene shows 1 Kings chapter 7, verse 23, the Molten Sea, the enormous cast bronze basin that stood on twelve oxen, three facing each direction. The basin rises on its stepped base in the middle of a colonnaded court, its sides decorated with garlands. Each scene carries its own engraved caption with the scripture reference in Dutch and French, and the sheet is numbered 95 in the lower margin.

Pieter Mortier's Bible, published in Amsterdam circa 1700 as the Historie des Ouden en Nieuwen Testaments, is one of the most ambitious illustrated Bibles of the Dutch Baroque. Its many scenes were engraved on copper after designs by leading artists of the day, among them Gerard Hoet, Arnold Houbraken and Bernard Picart, and set two to a sheet within engraved frames that give each plate its distinctive architectural look. This sheet is signed in the lower margin by Ottmar Elliger as designer, with the engraving signed by Sluyter. The sheet is printed on laid paper with full margins, and the reverse is blank.

A sheet like this suits a study, a library or a reading room, and it pairs naturally with other plates from the Mortier Bible for anyone building a sequence on the Books of Kings. The paired scenes and engraved frames look particularly handsome in a simple dark wood frame with a generous mount.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a small ink spot in the lower right margin and a slightly uneven outer edge; the image is clean and strong.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.