1493 Incunable Jerusalem Jewish Temple, Perugia. Clr Woodcuts Nurnberg Chronicle
LIBER CHRONICARUM
[Nuremberg Chronicle]
folio leaf from the 1493 original incunabulum edition
FOLIO XLVIII
Recto has Hand Colored Woodcut of
Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem
Verso has colored woodcut of
Perugia, the city in Italy
with black letter Latin text below the two woodcuts
The recto has 9 additional color portraits of the first four Israelite Kings, three prophets and two High priests from the era of the First Temple.
Woodcuts by Pleydenwurff and Wohlgemut
Latin text by Hartmann Schedel
Anton Koberger, Nuremberg, 1493. Original Latin Edition.
Rare and beautifully colored original woodcut views of the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem as imagined by the medieval artist, as well as a panoramic view of the medieval Etruria city of Perugia and its fortifications
The leaf is sandwiched without any matting between two glass panes secured in a black wood frame, thus affording complete visibility of both sides.
Leaf Dimensions: 11.5” x 16.7”
Frame Dimensions: 17” x 21”
Please note that some of the photographs may include artifacts due to reflections and glare caused by the glass panes, as well as shadows due to uneven lighting. Careful comparisons of the photos will reveal which of these feature are real and which are not.
RECTO
ILLUSTRATIONS
A. KING SOLOMON'S TEMPLE
In the temple court seven persons, probably priests, are promenading about, while an eighth one is upon his knees in front of a flat object that resembles a prayer rug. All is surrounded by a fortified wall with turrets at frequent intervals. All the structures have cupolas, most of which resemble a fair sized and rather ripe squatty tomato. In the distance is a hilly landscape.
Priestly Lineage is here continued from folio XLI verso, where Eli,Phinehas, Ahitub, Ahimelech and Abiathar were portrayed. The present panel contains but two illustrations, the son and grandson of Ahitub:
The first of these is a portrait of Zadok (Sadoch), son of Ahitub. Zadok was one of the two high priests in the time of David, Abiathar being the other (II Sam. 8:17). He joined David at Hebron and was always faithful to him, staying behind in Jerusalem at his request during Absalom's rebellion. He subsequently anointed Solomon as king, and was rewarded by him for his faithful service by being made sole high priest.
The second is a portrait of Ahimaaz (Achimas), son of Zadok, and it is a duplicate of the portrait of Bukki in the Priestly Lineage shown at Folio XXXVII verso.
The three Hebrew prophets, Ahijah (Achias), Shemaiah (Semeias) and Abdo (the mysterious prophet who remains unnamed in the Bible) are portrayed by three small woodcuts scattered through the text.
ILLUSTRATION
CITY OF PERUGIA
The old Etrurian city of Perusia (now Perugia) is here represented by the same woodcut that at folio XXIII verso is used to represent the city of Damascus.
TRANSLATION OF TEXT
Perusia is a very ancient and noble city of Etruria; and although formerly the first, it is now the third of all the Etrurian cities. According to Justin it was built by the Achaeans. It had its beginning at the time the city of Rome was built, although some say that Perusius, the Trojan prince, was its builder, and that it was named Perusium, or Perusiam, after him. More than any other city in Italy, Perugia enjoyed the blessings of good fortune, and that to an incredible degree. This position it maintained, together with the same manners, customs and commercial dealings which it enjoyed before the building of Rome; and these it continued to enjoy when Rome was ruled by kings, consuls, emperors, and tyrants. Yet Perugia suffered from various attacks. After the death of Alexander the Great, it was forced to submit to the Romans, under the power and compulsion of L. Posthumus, the consul. Livy relates that Fabius, the Roman, during the period of unrest and wars in Etruria, slew 4500 Perugians. Later, under the rule of the Roman triumvirate, the city was very unfortunate. The emperor Octavian besieged L. Antonius, the brother of M. Antonius (Mark Anthony), in the city of Perugia, and during that time the forces of Anthony and the Perugians suffered famine to an unheard-of degree. The city was captured and destroyed. When Octavian became sole ruler, he soon rebuilt the city, securing it with forts and turrets, which are still to be seen there. He called the city Augusta (Augusta Perusia), after himself; and to this cubit-high inscriptions on the fortifications testify to this day. The city is so situated, surrounded by sharp peaks and mountains, that it requires no other form of defense. Although there has been much dissension among the people of the city, and they were at times oppressed by tyrants, Perugia is now free and has within it good and highly educated men and laws. Here are to be found mighty churches, and beautifully adorned cloisters for the spiritual, tall palaces for the laity, large hospitals for the poor, a very renowned school, a large market, a beautiful fountain and a park well improved with buildings. Its fields produce oil, wine, saffron and all manner of sweet fruits. Here flourished Baldus, who was held in high esteem; and he, together with Bartolus Sassoferrato, were supreme in knowledge of the civil and canon law. Similarly, Angelus and Petrus, brothers. And Cinus before them was a very skillful lawyer of Perusia. During our time Matheolus, the celebrated physician, was born here, and with his learning and teaching he flourished in the University of Padua.
The text is a universal history of the Christian world from the beginning of times to the early 1490s, written in Latin by the Nuremberg physician and humanist Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514) on commission from the Nuremberg merchants Sebald Schreyer (1446-1520) and Sebastian Kammermeister (1446-1503). Drawn by the author from multiple medieval and Renaissance sources, such as Bede, Vincent of Beauvais, Martin of Tropau, Flavius Blondus, Bartolomeo Platina and Philippus de Bergamo (Iacopo Filippo Foresta), the Chronicle also incorporates geographical and historical information on European countries and towns. The narrative is divided into 11 parts, the so-called world ages, and is profusely illustrated by images of biblical and historical events, and topographical views of towns and countries in Europe and the Middle East, including Jerusalem (and its destruction) and Byzantium.
Schreyer and Kammermeister commissioned the printing of the Chronicle to the Nuremberg printer Anton Koberger (ca.1440-1513), owner of the largest 15th-century German printing house. The Latin edition was printed in Koberger's shop between May 1492 and October 1493. In the meantime, a German translation was commissioned by the two financiers to Georg Alt (circa 1450-1510), a scribe at Nuremberg treasury, and the German edition was printed alongside the Latin one between January and December 1493. The project was completed on 23 December 1493.
Both editions are lavishly illustrated with 1804 xylographical images created from 641-643 woodblocks by the Nuremberg artists Michael Wolgemut (circa 1434/37 – 1519) and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (circa 1450 – 1494. The woodcut illustrations of a number of copies, both in Latin and in vernacular, were also supplied with hand colouring by contemporary German artists. The alleged involvement in the creation of the woodblocks of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), has now been rejected on the documentary evidence that he only worked as an apprentice in Wolgemut's workshop between 1486 and 1489, well before the beginning of the production of the Chronicle.
The beauty of the illustrative apparatus, the skilful production and the elegant mise-en-page of the both the Latin and German editions of the text account for the 'enduring value' of the Nuremberg Chronicle, which survives in circa 1240 copies of the Latin edition and in circa 1580 copies of the vernacular.
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CONDITION: The leaf is complete and intact with a few small and light spots on the margins. The illustrations and text block are intact and clean.
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