Calligraphy Portraits

"Bust portrait of William III and Mary in state robes, in two ovals facing towards each other, printed within calligraphic flourishes; a cutting of the top left corner from a official legal document. 1690s Engraving printed from a single plate on vellum" by William Elder.








"Bust portrait of William III in state robes, with garter chain, in an oval facing left, printed within a second plate with calligraphic flourishes; a cutting of the top left corner from a official legal document. 1690s Engraving printed from two plates on vellum" (Anonymous).




"Portrait of Charles II in penmanship, drawn in an oval with calligraphic flourishes on all sides, printed on the Thames in the Frost Fair of 1684 Engraving"

"Lettered with motto round frame, and below ''Invented, performed by command of hand & engraven by John Seddon. Carp not at what you see for tis no more than th'untaught act of one ne'r grav'd before', and 'Printed on the River of Thames, Feb.1683/4'. "

"The bust of Charles is composed of calligraphic flourishes. John Seddon was the leading calligrapher of the time, and master of Sir John Johnson's Free Writing School in Priest's Court, Foster Lane. His portrait was drawn by William Faithorne (Vertue I 140), and was engraved by John Sturt as the frontispiece for his copy-books, such as 'The Ingenious youth's companion' of c.1690 and 'The pen-man's paradise' of c.1695. These were engraved after his work by others. This print declares that it was the first plate he engraved himself, and it probably remained the only one."







"Bust portrait of [King] Charles II in state robes, with garter chain, in an oval, printed within a second plate with calligraphic flourishes; a cutting of the top left corner from a official legal document. 1660s Engraving printed from two plates on vellum" (Anonymous).







"Bust portrait of Queen Anne in state robes, with hair piled high, in an oval, printed within calligraphic flourishes; a cutting of the top left corner from a official legal document. 1704/14 Engraving printed from a single plate on vellum" (Anonymous).





"Bust portrait of [King] Charles I in state robes, with garter chain, in an oval facing right, printed within calligraphic flourishes; a cutting of the top left corner from a official legal document. 1630s Engraving printed from a single plate on vellum with some colouring" (Anonymous).




'Jean Guttenberg de Mayence Inventeur de l"Imprimerie. 1436 à Strasbourg'
[Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz, inventor of the Printing Press]
"Lithograph. Portrait by Simon fils [c. 1836], calligraphic border executed by Ald. Berliner. Printed on wove paper." [source]


All but the last of the above images were found in the marvellous British Museum Prints Database.

Doubtless there are more calligraphic portraits to be found in this style but they are fairly resistant to searching (I admit I didn't try tooooo hard). The more esoteric and specific the style or theme, the harder it is to find desirable images, seems to me. More image captions and metadata please!