Print

This is a print I have had for more than 20 years. I don't know why but I just like it. I have been able to find nothing out about it over time so I thought I would see what folks think. Any ideas as to its origins? I think it was a smart purchase. It felt right but maybe a little too right as I have refused to sell it over time and have grown attached to it. Note there is information on a Jan van den Aveelen but do you think a) this is the right person and b) is it authentic? ~ CBri

 

Here's a link to the World Catalogue Association with information which may help you.

https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/collection/data/422779599

The information in that link provides a way to contact the National Library of Sweden regarding your print.

 

The little fellow in the middle is writing in runic script.

 

Ah I was able to look around a bit based on what you provided and found this. This lets me know that there are more out there.

http://www.vobam.se/layout_bestall.php?nummer=35477&land=Sverige&region=Nordeuropa

CBri

 

I think this may be from a book called "Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna" (Sweden: Ancient and Modern) published by Eric Dahlberg in 1713. The book was illustrated by Jan van den Aveelen. Several plates in the same format as this (though not this specific plate) are currently available through Abebooks:
http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/kw/suecia-antiqua-et-hodierna-dahlberg-erik/

I have no idea how many times the plates may have been reprinted (if at all).

 

Thanks moreotherstuff! I never really got too excited about it possibly being around 300 years old because I know that reprints happen. However, at first glance it looks pretty old. I just found a print of his online that had a hefty price tag on it that was encouraging if I ever want to sell it.I think I am too attached to it so that probably won't happen. The danger of falling in love with what you buy.

 

Your print is from the work Suecia antiqua et hodierna with engravings made between 1667 and 1715. The work was intiated and carried through by the fortifications officer, amateur artist and architect Erik Dahlbergh (1625-1703). After his death the work was continued by the Royal Chancellery in Sweden. All in all it consists of 353 engravings displaying 469 motifs of 17th-century Sweden. The master drawings were mostly made by Dahlbergh whereas the engravings were made by some twenty French and Dutch engravers.

Your print shows the coat of arms of the province of Blekinge in southern Sweden. The drawing was composed by Elias Brenner, the last director of the work before it was halted due to Sweden's increasing difficulties in the Great Nordic War. The work was never finished according to plan, and, apart from the coat of arms, in Blekinge only the city of Karlskrona together with its surrounding fortifications was finished.

The "runes" are from a site called Runamo häll (häll meaning flat rock). The motif is copied from a wood cut in Runir seu Danica literatura antiqvissima (1651), written by the Danish antiquarian Ole Worms. For many centuries it was believed that they were runes and there were mythological stories that the person who could decipher them was the rightful king of Denmark. In the engraving you can, e.g., read the word "Lund", the name of the old Danish arch-diocese. However, in the 19th century it was shown that the "runes" are in fact natural cracks in the rock.

Johannes van den Aveelen was a dutchman who moved to Sweden in 1698 to work on Suecia antiqua. He was the most productive of all the engravers and finished a total of 143 plates. From 1715 he did not receive any salary from the Crown but tried to make a living from private commissions. He died in Stockholm in 1728.

The work was printed in two editions in the 18th Century: c. 1721-1728, and 1751-1766. To see from which edition your print originates you have to look at the water-marks. A key to identifying the water-marks are given in a recent essay by Börje Magnusson: "Tryckningen av Suecia Antiqua", Biblis, 73 (2016). (It can be downloaded here; unfortunately only in Swedish.)

All the engravings and preserved master drawings relating to Suecia antiqua can be studied and freely downloaded as high-resolution images from the National Library of Sweden: https://suecia.kb.se/ (An English-language interface will be launched on the website later this year.)

 

Very interesting. Apparently Blekinge is the site of several rune stones, but I was unable to find any reference to an inscription such as shown in the print. I did find one instance that referred to runes carved on the wall of a crevasse, but I guess those are just the natural cracks you mention. Certainly explains why there is no further mention.

 

You can read more about Runamo on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runamo

 

Maybe next year someone new will come along and prove it's a runic inscription after all.

 

Wow! Well this ties everything up nicely. Thank you. Now to look for the mark. Thank you for making a favorite pretty shine a little brighter.

CBri