Carved Oak Buffet, Gerling Collection, Cologne, Antique Print, 1851

This is an original antique chromolithograph, printed in colors, from Le Moyen Âge et la Renaissance, lettered "MEUBLE EN CHÊNE SCULPTÉ, XVIe SIÈCLE. de la Collection de Mr Gerling, à Cologne." A tall two stage oak cupboard is shown from the front, printed in chestnut brown and golden tan with cream highlights. The upper stage has two square relief panels, one with an enthroned king and the other with a group of standing figures, separated by a small figure in a niche between grotesque terms, with a draped female figure at each corner. A frieze of foliage and masks divides the stages. Below, two doors carry arched niches, one with a figure holding a book beside an eagle, the other with an old man and an angel, and the cupboard rests on lion's paw feet.

The running heads read "LE MOYEN-AGE ET LA RENAISSANCE." and "AMEUBLEMENT CIVIL." Beneath the image are the credits "Rivaud del.", "Chromolith. Lemercier." and "Kellerhoven lith.", and below the caption "F. Séré direxit". The caption translates as: Piece of furniture in carved oak, sixteenth century, from the collection of Mr Gerling, at Cologne. A second carved oak piece from the same collection is shown on another plate.

Le Moyen Âge et la Renaissance was published in Paris in five volumes between 1848 and 1851. Paul Lacroix, who also wrote as the Bibliophile Jacob, edited the text, and Ferdinand Séré directed the illustrations, which is what the line "F. Séré direxit" on the plates records. The work surveys the customs, trades, sciences, arts and literature of Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and its plates reproduce furniture, metalwork, ceramics, manuscripts and other objects from public and private collections of the time. The plates are chromolithographs, printed in color from a series of stones rather than colored by hand. This plate comes from the fourth volume, issued in 1851.

The upright cupboard makes a handsome portrait format picture for a hall, a dining room or a study.

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