Designs for Scabbards with Motifs Inspired on the Drawings by Hans Holbein the Younger
Printmaker Christian von Mechel Swiss
After Hans Holbein the Younger German
Not on view
Etching with a design for a scabbard with motifs after the drawings of Hans Holbein the Younger, which include male and female figures dressed in Northern Renaissance style, a putto, a dog, and skeletons, over a black ground. The design is presented in two fragments: the upper part over the lower part. The upper part is decorated, where the scabbard would meet the handle of the sword, with a skull motif flanked to the sides by stylized acanthus leaves, which is separated from the design motif with the human figures and skeletons by a tube of a lighter shade of metal. The lower part also contains one of these tubes on each end, and the tip of the scabbard is decorated with a motif formed by two scrolling, stylized acanthus leaves and a stylized fleur-de-lis.
