Johann Theodor de BRY: The Mussel Shell - 1596

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Engraving, 107 x 90 mm. Hollstein Dutch 240-287.

Plate from the Emblemata Saecularia series, first edition, dating from 1596, with the engraved number 13. In the second edition, dating from 1611, its number is 34.

Very fine impression printed on laid paper. Small discrete traces of rubbing in the subject above the mussel shell, otherwise very good overall condition and good margins around the platemark (sheet: 168 x 120 mm).

Johann Theodor de Bry's print is a reversal of the composition of an engraving by Pieter van der Heyden based on a lost work by Hieronymus Bosch (Merrymakers Sailing in a Mussel Shell, 1562). The caption reads: Concha procellosum dic qua spe navigat aequor [Say in what hope this shell sails on the stormy waters]