1735 – J. J. Scheuchzer – Aranea Prudentiae Exemplar
50 €
Title: “Aranea prudentiae exemplar – Die Spinne ein Muster der Klugheit”
(The Spider, an Example of Prudence)
Description:
This is plate DLXXXVII (587) from Johann Jakob Scheuchzer’s monumental “Copper Bible”, together with its accompanying Dutch text. It comes from Geestelyke Natuurkunde, the first Dutch edition of the Physica Sacra, published in Amsterdam by Petrus Schenk in 1735–1738. The translation is by F. H. J. van Halen. Scheuchzer (1672–1733) was a Zurich physician and naturalist, and he set out to explain the natural history of every creature and phenomenon named in the Bible. The original Augsburg and Ulm edition (1731–1735) has more than 750 large copper plates, each set within an elaborate baroque frame designed by Johann Daniel Preissler. The Dutch edition was printed from the same plates, which keep their Latin and German captions.
The plate illustrates Proverbs 30:28. In Luther’s text “the spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces”. In the Latin Vulgate the creature is a lizard, the stellio, and lizards also appear in the frame. Inside the frame, numbered figures 1–12 show various spiders, their eye patterns magnified, and an orb web. Figure 13 is a great bird-eating tarantula devouring a hummingbird, after Maria Sibylla Merian’s celebrated Surinam plate. The plate is signed “I. A. Fridrich sculps.” (Jakob Andreas Fridrich, 1684–1751).
With it come three text leaves, pp. 1225–1230, headed “Natuurkunde – Printblad DLXXXVII”. They open with Proverbs 30:24–28 in Dutch (the ants, the conies, the locusts and the spider, “the four small things of the earth that are exceedingly wise”). A Dutch poem follows, inviting “lovers of nature’s secrets” to study the spider, the lizard and the ant. The rest is Scheuchzer’s learned commentary in two columns, citing Pliny, Aelian, Plutarch, Horapollo and others.
This is a complete plate-and-text set from one of the great illustrated books of the early Enlightenment.
Cartographer/Artist: Johann Jakob Scheuchzer
Engraver: Jakob Andreas Fridrich
Publisher: Petrus Schenk, Amsterdam (Dutch edition; plates from the Augsburg edition published by Johann Andreas Pfeffel)
Atlas: Geestelyke Natuurkunde (Dutch edition of Physica Sacra)
Sheet size: 40.7 x 23.7 cm
Year: 1735
Technique: copper engraving
Reference: STCN 183499905; Nissen ZBI 3661
Condition:
A plate and three text leaves on watermarked paper. The plate has wide margins and a strong, dark impression with fine detail. The paper is lightly toned, with faint soiling and minor wear at the sheet edges. The text leaves are clean and crisp, with light marginal toning. The engraved area is clean.
This is an original antique engraving published in 1735 and NOT a modern copy or reprint
On your request I will provide a Certificate of Authenticity
In stock
