King David Enthroned and a Jewelled Initial, Brussels, Antique Print, 1849

Two panels side by side on a horizontal sheet. At the left a crowned king sits on a cushioned throne with a sceptre, a young soldier standing before him in a short red tunic with a spear, both against a flat blue ground. At the right a great initial of looped gold interlace is set in a blue and crimson panel, with the words CCE UNUS PAU lettered in white capitals beneath it. The sheet is lettered as coming from the Library of Burgundy at Brussels.

The plate belongs to the second volume of Lacroix and Sere's Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance, Paris, 1849, a work that set out to describe the manners, trades, sciences, letters and fine arts of Europe between the fall of Rome and the end of the sixteenth century. Each sheet was drawn from the original object or manuscript and printed in chromolithography, a process still new in 1849 and here used with unusual richness.

The pairing of a narrative miniature with a pure ornament panel on one sheet is unusual and gives a buyer both halves of the medieval page at once. The horizontal format is useful, since most of the plates in this volume are upright: it suits a space above a chest, a door or a long bookcase.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and right edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete.

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