[ALBUM AMICORUM - EQUESTRIANISM - HERALDRY].
[Late 16th- and early 17th-century album amicorum].
[North-western Europe (specifically the vicinity of Brussels?)], [1585-1615]. 4to. With 45 hand-coloured and highlighted in gold engraved plates of horses and their riders from Europe, North Africa, and the Near and Middle East, numbered 1-50 (skipping nos. 2, 21, 27, 35, and 36), 46 hand-coloured and highlighted in gold engraved heraldic plates (sometimes filled in with manuscript notes), 2 hand-coloured manuscript coats of arms on l. 15v, and 1 black and gold hand-coloured manuscript coat of arms on the back paste-down. Contemporary elaborately gold- and blind-tooled mottled calf, with gold lettering on both boards (front: RVB HZC VFB C.) (back: 1590). 164 ll.
€ 35,000
A remarkable album amicorum containing numerous late 16th- and early 17th-century inscriptions, bound in an elaborately decorated binding (dated 1590) and including more than 90 expertly hand-coloured and highlighted in gold engraved plates on equestrianism and heraldry. The engraved plates of horses (and in two cases dromedaries) and the nine pages of explanatory printed text at the beginning of the album were based on a late 16th-century work by the Flemish engraver Abraham de Bruyn (ca. 1539-1587), titled: Equitum descriptio, quomodo equestres... (ca. 1575/76). This work was published again in Cologne in 1577 with the following title Diversarum gentium armatura equestris; each engraving shows a horseman from a particular country or region, including Germany, the Low Countries, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Russia, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Persia, Egypt, Arabia, and more. De Bruyn's set of engravings was altered and expanded by the Flemish artist, Caspar Ruts (1530-1607), who later moved to Germany. Ruts (or Rutz) added two different types of plates meant for drawing coats-of-arms and family crests: the first type shows a crest flanked by a woman and a man (signed in the plate "Caspar Ruts excudit") and the second shows a crest in an ornamental frame. This frame is present in several versions: one type contains fruit and insects; a second one contains parrots, squirrels and fruit; a third shows flowers, berries and butterflies.
Many blank pages and several engravings are inscribed in ink. Several of these inscriptions are dated, mainly between 1585 and 1615. These inscriptions are made by, for example, Rene de Barnaige (an alderman from Kortrijk, or Courtroi), Jeane(?) Dontremont, Odile de Wilzt, Anne de Brecht, René de Chalon, Konstantin I, Freiherr Fugger, Herr zu Zinnenberg (1569-1627), Marguerite de Horion d'Ordenge and many more. Most of the contributors to the album are from Northwest Europe (the vicinity of Brussels, the Low Countries and Rhineland). Several belong to the bourgeoisie and minor nobility of the Southern Netherlands. René de Chalon (d. 1624) is a grandson of the first Prince of Orange, also named René de Chalon (1519-1544). René de Barnaige owned a fiefdom, his entry is a remembrance "tout se passe ... sans elle ne puis" of Lady Antoinette de Bourgogne (1529-1588). Odile (Marie) de Wiltz was a daughter of Johann Freiherr von und zu Wiltz (1535-1607). Little else is known about her, except that she married Charles de la Hamaïde (1580-1649) and that she was a descendent from Johann I von Nassau Dillenburg and Egbert I van Amstel, therefore, a distant relative of René de Chalon.
A detailed list of contents per page is available upon request.
Curiously, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek holds a very similar work (BSB Cod. icon. 320, 1575-1615), which also includes the equestrian and heraldic plates, but is described as a "studbook" or family book of Hans Lorenz von Trautskirchen and Hans Jörg von Elrichshausen, and their relations in and around Ingolstadt in Bavaria.
The corners of the boards are somewhat damaged, the binding shows some signs of wear and shows remnants of earlier fastenings. The flyleaves have been transformed into pastedowns, partially covering earlier owner's inscriptions, the flyleaves and pastedowns show some brown glue stains. Slightly browned and foxed throughout, but overall in good condition. A beautiful hand-coloured and highlighted in gold album amicorum with many late 16th- and early 17th-century inscriptions. For De Bruyn: Hollstein IV, p. 7; the BSB copy: urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb00007211-1 (WorldCat 162418399).
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