Love Games

The 17th century engravings below come from a book of love emblems that is variously categorised around the traps as erotic and pornographic - it will help if you are trilingual and have a (very) good imagination. (I've omitted the French poetry pages to tone down the salaciousness)




























































'Le Centre de l'Amour, Decouvert Soubs Divers Emblesmes Galans et Facetieux' (sic) was first published (by Chez Cupidon of course!) in about 1650 and was uploaded by U. Illinois Urbana-Champaign to the Internet Archive.

The 'gallant' and 'facetious' in the title lend an air of humour or mockery in relation to this Renaissance/Baroque publishing genre of embelemata, which is usually treated with a modicum of seriousness. The theme of games or sport has been deployed as a metaphor in the illustrations for the difficulties and sensitivities encountered in the negotiation of a relationship.

The book's readers are meant to contemplate the illustrations in conjunction with mottoes in Latin and German underneath, and the short, French epigrammatic verses appearing on the accompanying pages. In this way, they will be eventually able to decipher the true meanings of the visual scenes. Personally, I often find it difficult to divine the underlying message in illustrations from the era, because there was a very different mindset in relation to allegory and hidden meanings in objects and pictures back then (I touched on this phenomenon in a bit more detail once before: The Odd Baroque). However, I do find the visual mystification - only one facet of the trope - to be a charming dimension to that artistic era.

We see examples or precursor equivalents of such games as tennis (jeu de paume), croquet, bowls, shuffleboard, volleyball, jousting and backgammon. Music and the playing of instruments is presumably included within the same rubric for allegorical purposes in the emblems. Although there isn't anything overt in the erotic sense in the images above, there are a few scenes (especially those not shown) in which it is very easy to pick the double meanings and lurid allusions, even if the engravings themselves are ostensibly innocent.

Peter Rollos (active from about 1619 to 1644) was a German engraver who worked in Frankfurt, Prague and Berlin. Two of his notable publications (in which the illustrations seen above first appeared) were 'Vita Corneliana' and 'Euterpae Suboles' from the 1630s.

Embelmata posts on BibliOdyssey previously : these contain a wealth of related and background links that I won't bother to repeat here, save for Love Emblems.

Oh, a(n) (incomplete) copy of this book sold at auction in 2005 for over $10K.

Geometric Perspective

The images below (background spot-cleaned) come from a rather obscure 16th century anonymous paper manuscript containing sketches of geometric solids. The illustrations have been cropped from the slightly larger full-page layouts.

























































The album of geometric and perspective drawings (Codex Guelf 74. 1. Aug. fol.) from the 1500s is available online from Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel (thumbnail pages).

It consists of more than thirty watercolour sketches of polyhedra^ or, as the Latin title on one of the images above has it, perspectives of the regular solids (a standard descriptive name, originating with Plato and Euclid).

There are virtually no references to this manuscript anywhere online and no further dating clues beyond "the 16th century". I would cautiously suggest**, therefore, that it likely dates to the latter half of the century. It is possibly copied from, or modelled after - but with the added whimsy of wildlife - some other works on geometrical shapes from after 1550 by Nuremberg/Augsburg artists such as Stoer, Lencker and Jamnitzer {links below}. [However, Nuremberg is a long way from Wolfenbüttel]

**idea may contain nuts

Previously, of particular note (each post contains many related links) :

• Jamnitzer Perspectiva
• Geometric Landscape
• And on Giornale Nuovo: Perspectiva Literaria
• Tangentially: Perspectiva

Thanks especially to Lisa from Magnolia Street Artist Books for pointing out this intriguing work [and thanks to Nina, as always!]

Thanks also to Marius for his timely reminder of George W Hart's Rapid Prototyping page.

Time, too, for a random shoutout to the Rouimi Art Institute (Calligraphy & Ebru marbling suppliers).

Waterlife and Peacock

The images below come from 'Waterlife' (by Rambharos Jha, 2012) AND

'I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail' (illustrated by Ramsingh Urveti, 2012)

All illustrations are © Tara Books and the respective authors/illustrators.
The images in this post appear with permission.

The Octopus at Home

(this is a detail; the full image is down below)

"Here is the octopus in its habitat, the ocean. I have tried to capture the ocean in lines: its restless movement, the ebb and flow of its tides, the waves that billow and fall over each other, and its sheer depth. So my lines stream in different directions, curving, circling and reaching out."

The Lobster's Secret

"To express its inner being, its secret core, I painted the lobster using a maze of lines, patterns and colour. When I was done, I realized that there is no limit to what art can do."

Old Friends

"The tortoise and the frog are favourite icons of Mithila art. I have painted them in the river habitat, which is scattered with tufts of earth. [..] My frog and tortoise are resting on these tiny islands. I think they are having a conversation."

Snake Festival

"Where I live, snakes are worshipped on a certain day in the monsoon season. This is called the Nagapanchami festival. On that day, people spread cowdung on their front-yards and draw different kinds of snakes on the surface. Here I have drawn my own version of a Nagapanchami snake, but I have shown it resting on the ocean-bed."

Changing Tradition

"Here are some fish whose names I do not know. But I have drawn them according to the conventions of Mithila art. So they are familiar to me, but I have also made them new. Their otherness lies not in their shape, but in the lines of their bodies - these are not traditional Mithila lines.

Crocodile Smile

"Two things came to mind when I sat down to draw the crocodile - its prickly, harsh body and the waters that house it. [..] I have heard that a river flowing through a jungle is more green than blue, since it reflects the dense green of the foliage."

The Crab and the Spider Crab

"Traditional Mithila artists paint the crab, but they also paint another related creature called the Spider Crab. I wanted to distinguish between the two crabs. I have patterned their bodies in two different ways, and let them float in their own distinctive water-spaces."

[The images above are slightly cropped from the full-page layouts]

At 37cm x 23cm (that's ~15 x 9 inches for the historical dystopics), the oversized 'Waterlife' (by Rambharos Jha^ to be published soon by Tara Books) is a big, brightly coloured book of hand-made paper featuring folk art from India.

The gorgeous and tactile screen-printed designs are based on the wall and courtyard folk decorations that Rambharos Jha saw when he was growing up in the culture-rich region of Mithila in the East Indian state of Bihar. Jha also drew influence from the nearby Ganges river, developing a significant fascination for water and marine species.

"The Madhubani painting or Mithila Painting [..] originated at the time of the Ramayana, when King Janak commissioned artists to do paintings at the time of marriage of his daughter, Sita, to Hindu god Lord Ram.

Madhubani paintings mostly depict nature and Hindu devotional events, and the themes generally revolve around Hindu deities like Krishna, Ram, Shiva, Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Natural objects like the sun, the moon, and the religious plants like tulsi are also widely painted, along side scenes from the royal courts and social events like weddings. Generally no empty space is left; the gaps are filled by paintings of flowers, animals, birds, and even geometric designs." [source] {also}

'Waterlife' is being released in the United States next month and is highly recommended. It is one seriously gorgeous folk art book and I am grateful  - again - to the publisher for sending a preview copy.

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'I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail' (illustrated by Ramsingh Urveti) is another current publication from Chennai's Tara Books. It relies on the more traditional offset printing technique, but is by no means a run of the mill release.

The book features strategically placed holes in pages, serrated edges, mounted diagrams and other novel design elements to add depth (and a certain whimsy) to the way the text and illustrations are perceived.

Ramasingh Urveti belongs to the traditional Gond^ tribe of artists from central India. His black and white folk art designs accompany the text of the book : 17th century English trick-poetry - supposedly only - for children. The poem can be read in such a way as to either make perfect sense or be totally mad : this ambiguous nature is further highlighted by Jonathan Yamakami's innovative book design.

'I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail' is being released in the United States in May 2012. Again, I'm fairly blown away by the quality of the book and have no hesitation in recommending it for those who like beautiful and unique publications.

"Tara Books is an independent publisher of picture books for adults and children based in Chennai, South India. Founded in 1994, we remain a collective of dedicated writers, designers and artists who strive for a union of fine form with rich content. We continue to work with a growing tribe of adventurous people from around the world. Fiercely independent, we publish a select list that straddles diverse genres, offering our readers unusual and rare voices in art and literature."

UPDATE: [1] There's a Youtube video that goes through the book, 'I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail'.
[2] Interview with illustrator Rambharos Jha on the Tara Books blog.

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Previous posts featuring works from Tara Books (highly recommended):

The Nightlife of Trees -- Folk Cats -- Gond Glyphs.


Follow BibliOdyssey on Twitter.

[97% of the time I turn down offers of preview books, so you can rightly conclude that I'm particularly enthusiastic about the releases from Tara Books]

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{the first image below - the feather roundel - was spliced together from scans}

Paper Lanterns

'Papierlaternen-Fabrik Riethmüller' [maker's catalog] Anonymous, c. 1880 - happy chromolithographs - from the Metropolitan Museum of Art website. {six prints are it}


Previously related? Not really, but still.. Paper Gods + Day of the Dead - Papercuts + Watch-Paper Prints.

Series Imaginum

'Series Imaginum Augustae Domus Boicae, ad Genuina Ectypa Aliaque Monum Fide Digna delin. et Aaeri Incidit, Monachium' 1773 by Joseph Anton Zimmerman, is online at the Bavarian State Library in Munich - 'Miniaturansicht' for thumbnail pages.

The book is (fairly obviously) a genealogical portrait record of Bavarian nobility (or royal lineage) from about the 10th century onwards. Bavarian history being the convoluted assembly of ruling houses that it is, I'm not altogether sure what 'Domus Boicae' in the title, "A series of portraits of the noble house of Boicae', means.**

See Wikipedia articles: House of Wittelsbach and List of Rulers of Bavaria.

[Also see previous related posts: Geomancy Almanac & Duke Dress and Heraldry]

Irrespective of the true background to the series, I thought the book worth featuring for the beautiful engraving work by, or after designs by, the author, Joseph Zimmerman (d. 1797), an artist who received formal training in his chosen vocation in Regensburg and Augsburg [bio].

{all the images above were cropped from the full page layout}

**Later: I've had it confirmed that the 'Boica' in the title refers, in fact, to the German state of 'Bavaria', so it's: 'A Series of Portraits of the Noble House of Bavaria'.