Dodgson, Campbell: Catalogue of early German and Flemish woodcuts: preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (Band 1): [German and Flemish woodcuts of the XV century] (London, 1903)

118

Early German and Flemish Woodcuts.—Part 1.

that they seem to be cut by at least two, perhaps three, different hands.
The verses are these :—

I-clj gfall nur
Srum hmt tcfj
©fft mtcf) tm

j?cc>

Scit tcfj fttttt

tttf mcr tool
traurnt hol_
sptcgcf scfjat

(i.e. schande ?)

aft ttttr scfjrtrftt
to5tcr grBttt

(:i.e. grund ?)

I-cfjjtrmc
Jlbrncr mcr
Icfj Itg ttt U-

Bptt Johcl
Ngmat Itcft

(The text of the second column is very difficult to read.)
Over the verses is a scroll with the inscription :—

Ecf) ntfcf)
attbtcf)
cr crG.

gfjaltctt
ttttK fncrU

CO HcfJCtt . llcfictt . ILcftCtt CU

Ic{) hftt futtg scijott fjttfjsrfj toolgcstalt. ^Sffc aftcr tncttit trfj
IntrU alt.

Beneath the principal figure is a similar but wider scroll with the
inscription :—

21©ifc aftcr Inrttti fcfj fntrU stcrftctt. Fott hnrtttctt ftt crtt hcrUcrftctt.

IncttU Uas hlctlftt offt fjcruttt. FttU Ittg foais httUctt fjcrfrtrftum
lUfrfj offt ttt Ucm sptcgcl hrsfrfj co . ||c tttcr Ufcmfttfgcst Utt Utcfj. co

ff'oUt. 2ToUt 2ToUt.

On either side of the principal figure is an upright border [107 X 28]
with a scroll winding round a staff, with the inscriptions :—■

(l.) Ccf) ijcns) Stttttatt . tttcftt tttatt golfjatt.

(r.) I-cf) ftftt fffrattt ijflf , tfjott tt)as> fcij ttttlf,

Finally, at the top and bottom of the whole print, are two oblong
borders [35 x 195] with children on a black ground. In the centre of
the upper border is the infant Christ seated, with an orb in his 1. hand.
Behind his head passes a long winding scroll, with the inscription
EIN GVT SELIG NEVIAR BVSCH ICH EVCH. At either end of the
scroll is a child-angel playing on a lute (1.) and an organ (r.). In the
centre of the lower border one cliild is washing another in a tub. At
either end are two children playing, and the rest of the space is filled by a
leaf-ornament.

The wliole slieet [300 X 195] is in goocl preservation. It is not coloured, but merely
touched along some of tlie lines with vermilion. The paper has no watermark.

The name of the poet, Hans Kurz (see p. 54, footnote) connects the woodcut witli
Bavaria, and the word “ busch ” for “ wiinscli ” marbs the dialect as Bavarian. Iu
other respects the cut recalls rather the style of the Basle or Strassburg school about
1500-1510, especially in tlie close and regular shading, witliout cross-hatching. On
the name “ Syman ’’ Herr Schreiber has favoured me with the following note :—“ At the
Hofbibliothek at Vienna there is a pack.of Low G-erman playing-cards of the end of
the xvi century. On one of them (two of acorns) a wife is represented ill-treating
her husband with a cane, and on the border of her dress is the inscription ‘ FRAV
SIMAN.’ At Munich I saw an engraving of the beginning of the xvir century
entitled ‘Hahnrei-Fest ’ (Cuckolds’ Festival); one of the spectators’ galleries is marke’d
‘ Raum fiir die Siman.’ Consequently there is no doubt that ‘ Siman ’ means ‘ Sie ist
der Mann ’ = ‘ Sie tliut was sie will.’ ‘ Fraw Hill ’ is doubtless iiientical with ‘ Frau
Holle,’ the sarne word as ‘ bldlle ’ (Hell).” Herr Sclireiber goes on to suggest tliat the
husband’s name “ Golhan ” may be connected with Hahn (cock), but the name lias not
yet been fully evplained.

Presented by W. Mitchell, Esq., 1895. Repr. Schr. vi, pl. xv.