"Calechut", Meisner, Daniel

Wonderful, miniature copper engraving depicting Arion riding on a very cheerful looking sea monster in the important trading center of Calicut harbor. The Latin title at top roughly translates to "Music from the Stars Soothes the Sea Monster." The city is shown in the background, with truly exceptional detail of the buildings, elephants, palm trees, and landscape. This engraving is based on Braun & Hogenberg's view of 1572.

Meisner's emblem book, containing over 800 pictorial-poetic compositions, was enormously popular throughout Europe in the 17th century. The plan views were based on the work of De Bry, Braun & Hogenberg, Merian and others with the addition of emblematic figures or scenes in the foreground, juxtaposed with moralizing and edifying verses beneath the image and a Latin motto at top. It was originally issued with 52 plates as the Thesaurus philo-politicus in 1623-24. After Meisner's death in 1625, Eberhard Kieser, with assistance from Johann L. Gottfried, completed the work and published it until 1631. The plates then appeared in the eight parts of Sciographia Cosmica published by Paulus Furst between 1637-78. The plates for these editions were renumbered alphanumerically in the upper right corners. They were finally issued in 1700 and 1704 in Rudolf J. Helmer's Politica-politica. This example is from the 1642 edition.

References: King (2nd ed.) pp. 104-5.

Condition: A

A dark impression printed on paper with a crown watermark. There is a small stain in right blank margin, well away from image.