German Shield, Sixteenth Century, Soltykoff Collection, Antique Print, 1851

This is an original antique chromolithograph, printed in steel gray with white highlights and small gold dots for the rivet heads, showing a single embossed shield. The shield is a pointed oval with a rim of embossed spirals. Its broad field is filled with foliate scrolls, flowers and birds, and the central oval panel shows a seated young man with a staff offering an apple to a draped standing woman, with a nude woman beside her, before a landscape of hills and trees.

The running head reads "LE MOYEN-AGE ET LA RENAISSANCE." at the left and "ARMURERIE" at the right. Below the image are the credits "A. Rivaud del.", "Chromolith. Lemercier à Paris." and "Kellerhoven lith.". The caption reads "XVIe SIÈCLE. BOUCLIER ALLEMAND, au tiers de l'execution" and "Collection de M. le Prince Soltykoff à Paris." (sixteenth century, German shield, drawn at one third of actual size; collection of Prince Soltykoff, Paris).

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 "Armurerie" (armor). The caption gives the scale of the drawing, one third of the original.

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.