Carved Ivory Powder Flask and Knife Handles, Sixteenth Century, 1851

This is an original antique chromolithograph, printed in ivory, buff and steel gray, showing three carved ivory objects on the plain sheet. At the center is a round hunting powder flask with an opening through its middle, carved in high relief with a ring of animals, among them a boar, and fitted with a metal spout above and suspension rings at the sides. To either side stands a knife handle on its steel blade, each blade engraved with scrolls. The left handle is topped by two birds over a bearded mask and interlaced strapwork; the right is topped by paired grotesque masks and scrolls above a female mask and leafy interlace.

The running head reads "LE MOYEN-AGE ET LA RENAISSANCE" at the left and "OBJETS DIVERS. PL. 5" at the right. Below the image are the credits "Ferdinand Séré del.", "Chromolith. Lemercier à Paris." and "Thurwanger lith.". The two line caption reads "(XVIe SIECLE) POUDRIERE DE CHASSE en ivoire sculpté. (Collection de Mr le prince Soltykoff." and "(XVIe SIÈCLE) MANCHES DE COUTEAUX en ivoire sculpté, appt à Mr C. Becker de Francfort." (sixteenth century, hunting powder flask in carved ivory, collection of Prince Soltykoff; sixteenth century, knife handles in carved ivory, belonging to Mr. C. Becker of Frankfurt), followed by "F. Séré direxit."

Le Moyen Âge et la Renaissance was edited by Paul Lacroix, who also wrote as the Bibliophile Jacob, with Ferdinand Séré directing the illustrations, and was published in Paris in five volumes between 1848 and 1851. Its chapters, written by a range of specialists, survey the arts, crafts, sciences and customs of Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and its plates reproduce objects, manuscripts and buildings in public and private collections of the day. This plate comes from the fourth volume, of 1851, where it accompanies the section headed "Objets Divers" (miscellaneous objects). The flask and the knife handles belonged to different owners, as the caption records.

The plate can be framed on its own or hung with other plates from the work.

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