Lot 11: ISRAHEL VAN MECKENEM

Judith with the Head of Holofernes.

Engraving, circa 1495. 218x317 mm; 8 5/8x12 1/2 inches. Second state (of 4). Hand with a 4-leaf clover watermark (similar to Lehrs 10 and Briquet 11418, which he dates to around 1501). Trimmed on the plate mark but outside the border line, central vertical crease broken in several places and reinforced on the verso, restored edges losses and several small restored areas in the image, backed with cream wove paper. A fair impression of this extremely scarce, early print.

According to Lehrs, there is another impression in the second state with the same watermark in Donaueschingen. Lehrs cites only approximately 30 impressions, many of which are incomplete or damaged, and we have found only one other impression at auction in the past 20 years. Bartsch 4; Lehrs 8.