Pieter Mortier, The Fall of Solomon and Ahijah's Prophecy to Jeroboam, 1700, Engraving

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This original copperplate engraving from Pieter Mortier's illustrated Bible, Amsterdam circa 1700, shows two biblical scenes on one sheet: 1 … Read more This original copperplate engraving from Pieter Mortier's illustrated Bible, Amsterdam circa 1700, shows two biblical scenes on one sheet: 1 Kings 11:1 to 8, the fall of Solomon, and 1 Kings 11:29 to 31, Ahijah tells Jeroboam that God will make him king. The upper scene illustrates 1 Kings chapter 11, verses 1 to 8, the fall of Solomon, whose foreign wives turned his heart after other gods in his old age. The aged king kneels before an idol shrine among his wives, offering incense, while musicians play and a pagan statue presides from a pedestal. The lower scene shows 1 Kings chapter 11, verses 29 to 31, where the prophet Ahijah meets Jeroboam in the field, tears his new garment into twelve pieces and gives him ten, as a sign that God will give him ten tribes of Israel. The prophet holds out the torn pieces to the armoured Jeroboam in an open landscape. Each scene carries its own engraved caption with the scripture reference in Dutch and French, and the sheet is numbered 99 in the lower margin. Pieter Mortier's Bible, published in Amsterdam circa 1700 as the Historie des Ouden en Nieuwen Testaments, is one of the most ambitious illustrated Bibles of the Dutch Baroque. Its many scenes were engraved on copper after designs by leading artists of the day, among them Gerard Hoet, Arnold Houbraken and Bernard Picart, and set two to a sheet within engraved frames that give each plate its distinctive architectural look. This sheet is signed in the lower margin by Ottmar Elliger as designer, and no engraver's signature is visible. The sheet is printed on laid paper with full margins, and the reverse is blank. A sheet like this suits a study, a library or a reading room, and it pairs naturally with other plates from the Mortier Bible for anyone building a sequence on the Books of Kings. The paired scenes and engraved frames look particularly handsome in a simple dark wood frame with a generous mount. The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, faint marginal soiling and slightly frayed edges; the image itself is clean and strong. This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed. See less