Unsigned etching (3 Ergebnisse)

Zustand: Good. An original late nineteenth century etched portrait of an elderly gentleman, printed in a sharp plate mark on a large sheet of wove paper. The sitter is shown half length, turned slightly to the left and looking up and away, with thick gray hair swept back, a clipped gray mustache and a firm, heavy jaw. He wears a dark coat buttoned high over a white shirt with a wing collar and a broad black bow tie. Beneath the bust is a facsimile signature in a bold, looping hand, reproduced on the plate so that the portrait carries the sitter's own autograph. It is not legible with certainty, and the sitter is therefore not named here. Below it, in small capitals, the plate is lettered "H. Feh impr.", the credit of the printer, and there is no further title or publisher's line. The etching is freely drawn. The face is modeled with fine, closely laid lines and dots, the hair with quick curling strokes, and the coat with dense cross hatching that dissolves at the edges into open zigzag work, so that the figure seems to emerge from the paper. The dress and the manner place the plate around 1880, when etched portraits with facsimile signatures were popular in German and Austrian illustrated books and portfolios honoring public men. The broad margins frame the small plate well, and the sheet would suit a study or library wall, or a group of nineteenth century portraits hung together. Portraits like this one are collected for the force of the face and the quality of the etched line. Condition: Good condition for its age. Plate mark visible. Foxing to the upper margin, soiling along the right edge, old tape remnants at the side edges and a small chip at the lower edge. Please review the images for further condition details. This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed. Size: H 30 cm x W 23 cm x D 0.02 cm Stock number: BG-14343-44.…

Zustand: Good. An original etched portrait of an eighteenth century gentleman, dated 1894 on the plate, with an unusual decorative border. The sitter is not named on the sheet. He is shown half length, turned slightly to the left, with heavy lidded eyes, full jowls and a powdered wig dressed in rolled curls over the ears. He wears a buttoned coat and waistcoat with a lace jabot and lace cuffs, one hand resting on his chest. In the upper right corner of the image an inscription is etched in mirror writing so that it prints reversed, reading "D: B. f. 1787", which suggests the portrait reproduces an original signed with the initials D. B. and dated 1787. To the left of the portrait a narrow upright panel shows three carved statues under pinnacled canopies, a crowned Virgin and Child above two bearded figures, lettered at the foot "Spalen Thor". These are the statues on the Spalentor, the great Gothic city gate of Basel. Beneath the portrait runs a frieze of costumed and masked figures in procession, among them an animal headed man, a long beaked bird, halberdiers, a flag bearer, a fool, a griffin and a wild man carrying an uprooted tree, with the date "1894" in the center. The griffin and the wild man are among the traditional figures of Basel's street festivals. The etching is drawn with a lively, slightly naive line, with parallel hatching in the coat and background and careful detail in the wig and lace. The plate is printed on a large sheet of toned paper with ample margins and a clear plate mark. With its Basel references and its mixture of portraiture and festival imagery, the sheet will interest collectors of Swiss prints and of the history of Basel, and it makes a distinctive piece for a study or hallway. Condition: Good condition for its age. Toning; uneven edges with a small loss at the lower edge, clear of the image; a few small spots in the lower left margin. The image is clean. Please review the images for further condition details. This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed. Size: H 32 cm x W 24 cm x D 0.02 cm Stock number: BG-14343-64.…

Zustand: Good. An etched portrait of a mature gentleman, shown bust length and turned slightly to the left, with thick wavy gray hair, a heavy mustache, a dark coat and a wide black bow tie over a white shirt front. The face is modeled in fine, close etched lines and the background is left largely open, with loose hatching around the head and shoulders. Beneath the bust is a bold facsimile signature with a large looping flourish, and below that, in small letters at the foot of the plate, the printer's line "H. Feh impr." The sitter's name is not lettered on the sheet, and the flourished signature does not identify him. The plate is printed with a wide, clearly impressed plate mark on a large sheet of heavy paper, in the manner of the etched portraits issued in portfolios, periodicals and commemorative publications of the later nineteenth century. The cut of the coat, the bow tie and the hair and mustache point to the eighteen eighties, and the impression is rich, with a soft film of tone left on the plate across the image area. Collectors of portrait prints value sheets like this for the quality of the etching and the strength of the characterization rather than for a name, and this is a sensitive and lively likeness: the eyes are alert and directed past the viewer, the mouth is firm beneath the mustache, and the etcher has caught the slight turn of the head with real economy of line. The wide margins give the small image a quiet dignity. It would sit well in a study or library, framed with a broad mat to respect the generous margins, or hung in a group of nineteenth century portrait etchings. Condition: Good condition for its age. Plate mark visible. Light toning, remnants of old tape at the left and right edges and a few small dark spots in the lower left margin. Please review the images for further condition details. This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed. Size: H 30 cm x W 23 cm x D 0.02 cm Stock number: BG-14343-42.…