?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
ISRAEL VAN MECKENEM The Singer and the Lute Player.
Engraving, circa 1495-1500. 165x113 mm; 6 1/2x4 1/2 inches. Third state (of 3). With thread margins or trimmed on the plate mark. From Scenes of Daily Life. A superb, strong impression of this extremely scarce, early engraving, with little to no sign of wear.
According to Shestack, "Toward the end of his career, Meckenem (1445-1503) produced a series of twelve engravings of pleasant genre subjects, each containing a male and female engaged in everyday pursuits. Six of the prints show the figures in abstract spaces, isolated against darkly shaded backgrounds which are typical of Meckenem's late work . . . In the remaining six prints of this series, the scenes are set on charming domestic interiors. Because of Meckenem's careful observation of furniture, household appurtenances, and musical instruments, the prints are valuable documents for the cultural history of the late fifteenth century in northern Germany," (Fifteenth Century Engravings of Northern Europe, Washington, D.C., 1967, numbers 233-243). Bartsch 174; Lehrs 506.
