(Text Engraving / Calligraphy) - Paul Küffner (Küfner, 1713-1786): 44 rare text engravings on laid paper printed from engraved funerary or memorial plaques.
[Nürnberg / Nuremberg], November 1772-May 1786 according to the printed dates, and one undated (the date remains to be filled in).
The impressions consist almost exclusively of mirrored text, indicating that the copper (?) plaques themselves were the main product, and not these impressions. In many cases the text opens with ”Hier ruhet in Gott […]” (Here rests in God […]), supporting the conclusion that the plaques were intended for graves, and perhaps affixed to coffins or crosses. Presumably the deceased were all inhabitants of Nürnberg, where Küffner was active all his life. A few impressions may have been pulled as a memento for the immediate family of the deceased, but these prints could just as well be unique and must in any case be exceedingly rare.
The plates are in the form of decorative cartouches usually with a roughly oval shape, plate and sheet sizes vary although a few basic shapes dominate. Largest sheet is 27,5 x 37,5 cms. Some staining and short marginal tears, some sheets are laid down in the corners onto later brown backing sheets. Three of the impressions are counterproofs (March 1779, Feb. 1780, and Oct. 1783), in the final case an original mirrored impression from the plate is present as well.
Provenance: Several sheets with the ownership stamp of Norwegian-Swedish collector Christian Hammer (1818-1905, Lugt 1237).
Paul Küffner lived his whole life in Nürnberg and was active as an artist and engraver, specialising in text engraving, music, maps and vignettes. He published two books on the subject of lettering and calligraphy, ”Muster einer ganz neuen schönen und Regulmässigen Schreib-Art, durch das ganze Alphabet, Fractur, Canzley und Current” (1764) and ”Kurzgefasste Anweißung zur Schreib-Kunst in folgenden Blättern nach der neuesten und gebräuchlichsten Art so wohl in Deutsch- Lateinisch- Französisch- u: Italienischen Schrifften” (1761).