Carved Oak Stalls, Cologne and Aosta, Antique Print, 1851

This is an original antique chromolithograph, printed in oak browns, lettered "XIV. et XVe SIÈCLES, STALLES EN CHÊNE SCULPTÉ. 1, à Saint Géréon de Cologne, 2 à Aoste." Two stall ends stand side by side. The first, from Cologne, has a great scrolled upper outline with foliage bosses, a standing figure holding a shield with a cross above a crouching figure on the post, a nude figure and a small animal carved along the scroll, and a lower panel of Gothic window tracery with a rose. The second, from Aosta, is taller and straighter, with pierced cresting and pinnacles, Saint Michael in armor slaying the dragon at the upper corner, and a bearded figure with a scroll under a canopy, with a small figure in a side niche.

The caption translates as "fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, stalls in carved oak: 1, at Saint Gereon in Cologne; 2, at Aosta." The running head reads "AMEUBLEMENT RELIGIEUX". The credits read "F. Séré et H. Dufresne del.", "Chromolith Lemercier à Paris." and "Kellerhoven, lith.", with "F. Séré direxit" beneath the caption.

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 why his name and the word direxit stand beneath every plate. The work surveys the manners, crafts, sciences and arts of medieval and Renaissance Europe, and its chromolithographed plates record objects held around 1850 in churches, museums and private collections. This plate is from the fourth volume, dated 1851, in the section on church furniture.

The two tall carvings fill the sheet well and suit a study or library.

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