Ova Paschalia sacro emblemate inscripta descriptaque a Georgio Stengelio Societatis Iesu Theologo Curae Secundae. Munich, (Nicolas Henricus), 1635

£5,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A handsome copy in an unrestored, contemporary binding, of this most curious of emblem books, in which the Jesuit author takes the egg as inspiration for meditations on Easter and the Eucharist. This is the first edition to contain the minute, added scenes around the egg-shaped emblems, the second in all; both are rare. This copy is from the library of Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Paris Graf von Lodron (1586-1653), with his arms. The unknown artist, with extraordinary ingenuity and skill, uses egg-shaped emblems to explore the meaning of the egg within a Catholic theological perspective. In this edition the artist produces further minute scenes around the egg, while the first edition of 1634 only had the egg emblem and not the surrounding extra scenes. The emblems show life on the land, animal scenes, biblical scenes, astronomy, mythological scenes, and those relating to foreign lands, such as the Americas. ‘There are two specific chapters relating directly to Native Americans, as well as four more emblems where Native Americans serve as an inspiration for the illustration. The well-read Jesuit author has closely examined Heinrich Salmuth’s commentary on Panciroli’s Rerum memorabilium sive deperditarum . When Salmuth first published the work in an unauthorized edition of 1599-1602, it was condemned and prohibited by the Inquisition for its unorthodox remarks. However, Stengel appears to be unconcerned about commenting further upon Salmuth. In emblem 42, Stengel relates a st

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