Dagon Falls Before the Ark and the Ark Sent Back, Mortier Bible circa 1700

This original copper engraving from Pieter Mortier's illustrated Bible, published in Amsterdam circa 1700, shows two Old Testament scenes on one sheet. The subjects are 1 Samuel 5, the idol Dagon falls before the Ark, and 1 Samuel 6, the Philistines send back the Ark. It is plate 76 of the series, a fine example of Dutch Baroque biblical engraving with the upper and lower compositions each set in its own engraved frame.

The upper scene illustrates 1 Samuel chapter 5, verses 1 to 5, in which the captured Ark of the Covenant is placed in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod, and the Philistines find their idol fallen on its face before it, its head and hands broken off on the threshold.

The lower scene takes 1 Samuel chapter 6, in which the afflicted Philistines return the Ark on a new cart drawn by two milch kine, with a trespass offering of golden images, and the cart comes of its own accord to Beth Shemesh.

Pieter Mortier's Bible, issued in Amsterdam circa 1700, is one of the finest illustrated Bibles of the Baroque period. Its plates, with more than four hundred scenes, follow the sacred narrative from Genesis onwards, two scenes to a sheet, each captioned in Dutch and French beneath the chapter and verse. The plate is signed O. Elliger inv. for the designer Ottmar Elliger and A. de Blois sculp. for the engraver Abraham de Blois, with the imprint P. Mortier edit. cum Privil. Leading Dutch artists such as Gerard Hoet, Arnold Houbraken and Bernard Picart supplied designs, and the plates were worked with a dense, velvety burin that gives the scenes their dramatic light and depth, the qualities that make Mortier sheets so sought after today.

The engraving is printed on laid paper with full margins and a blank verso, and is uncolored, as issued. It rewards close viewing and is well suited to a study, library or quiet corner, either alone or hung as part of a series of Mortier Bible engravings, which together give a vivid sense of how the Dutch Baroque imagined the biblical world.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, slightly frayed edges and a few small marginal spots; the engraved image is clean and crisp.