Pierced Iron Locks and a Master Key, Antique Print, 1851

This is an original antique chromolithograph, printed in steel gray over vermilion red and yellow grounds, lettered "1, 2, 3. SERRURES en fer découpé à jour (XVe Siécle.) 4. CLEF PASSE-PARTOUT, couverte d'ornements ciselés (Musée National de Cluny). 5. CLEF de 1436, (Musée Royal de la Haye). 6. SERRURE (XVe Siécle) à l'Hôtel de Ville de Bruges." Lock 1, at the upper left, is a tall plate with a standing saint and two smaller figures under pinnacled canopies over pierced tracery. Lock 2 has a red ground, pierced foliage at the corners and a scaled hasp running down to the keyhole. Lock 3, the largest, shows standing figures, angels in the corners and a crowned shield with fleurs de lis on a yellow ground. The master key 4 lies across the upper right, the plain key 5 sits at the left, and lock 6 at the lower left has a pierced quatrefoil on red with a lizardlike hasp.

The running head reads "LE MOYEN ÂGE ET LA RENAISSANCE" and "SERRURERIE Pl. V." (locksmith's work, plate 5). The credits are "H. Soltau del.", "Chromolith. Lemercier" and "H. Moulin Lith.", with "F. Séré direxit" at the foot. In English the caption reads: 1, 2, 3. Locks in pierced iron (fifteenth century). 4. Master key covered with chased ornament (Musée National de Cluny). 5. Key of 1436 (Royal Museum, The Hague). 6. Lock (fifteenth century) at the town hall of Bruges.

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 it was published in Paris in five volumes between 1848 and 1851. The work surveys the manners, customs, trade, industry, sciences and arts of Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and its chapters were illustrated with plates after objects in museums, churches and private collections of the day. This plate belongs to the fourth volume, issued in 1851.

The plate can be framed on its own or hung in a small group with other plates from the work.

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