Featured Trying to find info on an old wood panel painting.

Thank you, so happy to be here. Everyone has been so helpful, and best of all; funny! I don’t live in NY (anymore) but will def send an email and I’ll also look up the conservators. Thank you!

 

Thank you, I will send an email and see what happens.

 

Hahahaha!! It’s the “boob-pipes”.

 

Ok, here’s another pic:

 

Well I'm still unsure. Any chance you could crop those so we can get a high resolution pick of just the mark?

 

As a newly Certified Internet Expert, I continue to read up on the subject of Merchant's Marks. Such study not required for Internet Experts, but I like to exceed expectations.

Currently reading J Paul Rylands' 1910 article. https://www.hslc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/62-2-Rylands.pdf

It includes individual descriptions of each included example. I eagerly paged through the illustrations looking for one similar to yours and was rewarded for my efforts.

I present to you, "The Unimaginative Merchant."

 

These could be some of them.

 

Ok, sorry fell asleep before I saw this last night. Here is another pic, I hope it’s a better on.

 

It looks like the initials might be LK. Jeanette, you may be in the best position to determine what the second letter is. If you have a magnifying glass, try peering at it while using a flashlight. Changing the angle of the light might allow you to see the letter better than we can from a photograph.

 

It looks to me to be an M. I swear this seal is going to be the death of me, lol.

 

Perhaps the actual initials are not as important as the information that @Jivvy has found that such seals were in common use as early as the 16th century. It may be impossible to find information on the specific "unimaginative merchant".

 

Taking a rubbing might also clarify that second letter.

 

A.K.a., Colonial Williamsburg.

An additional thought on the imagery: if the dancers were completely lost to Satanic forces, think their hair would have fallen loose. This is a temporary madness; they will again don their dresses & go back to tending their sheep.

 

Not really related, but amusing:

https://publicdomainreview.org/coll...from-peasant-village-to-political-caricature/

 

https://www.dorotheum.com/en/l/6002763/

 

Note the flowers on the ground:


http://www.artnet.com/artists/flemish-school-1718/dancing-graces-FM9-7iyJC7DGWmbJSkJVzA2

I wouldn't place too much trust in their title.

 

A Bacchic scene for comparison:



https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-triumph-of-bacchus-72637

 

@2manybooks I thought I was nuts when I saw "K" . At least I'm in good company.

Here's the thing. Depending on the light, the options I see are: IX, M, or K

But no matter which letter is shining through the strongest, I can always, if I squint hard enough, make it be an M.

That is not true for IX or K.

So, I'm deciding it's M. The fact that @Jeanette Torello sees M is a bonus.

In my head, it is now, and forever shall be, LM. Which means

.
... waitaminnit...
.
.
... i'm thinking...
.
.
... what it means is...

Oh right, someone, some time ago, had the initials LM.

...

ooh ooh, and LM owned a painting.

...

Yeah, I think that's it. phew!

 

I think you should stop, now, Jivvy.........