Preview
Scrivener
Conrad Otto (circa 1766-1857)
Decorator
Henrich Otto (circa 1733-99)
Accession Number
PAG1998.156
Creation Date
1787
Description
Printed Taufschein with floral-and-bird borders at sides, free-drawn urn with vines and flowers at top, undulating brown ground at bottom with floral-and-vine motifs and winged angel head.
Dimensions in Inches
12 1/2 x 15 3/4
Dimensions in Centimeters
32 x 40
Materials
Watercolor and Ink on laid Paper
Technique
Drawn, Hand lettered
Associated Places
Heidelberg Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Category
Birth and baptismal certificate (Geburts-und-Taufschein)
Motifs
floral, birds, flowers, tulips, angels
Associated Names
Christian Bauman, Henrich Scheffer, Eva, Catharina, Wilhelm Hendel, Alexander Schefer
Rights
Please contact the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College for permissions which fall outside of educational fair use.
Source
Ursinus College Library Special Collections and the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art
Provenance
Pennsylvania Folklife Society
Script/Text
Fraktur lettering, German script
Language
German
Comment
The pink color used in this piece for accents as well as the bottom heart and urn at the top is very unusual. The detail of the angel’s face and hair at the bottom exemplifies the fine pen work of which Otto was capable. The wavy ground drawn at the bottom appears on other pieces by Otto. The scrivener for this piece is unknown, but employed a distinctive X design with dots to fill in empty spaces.
Condition
Good
Bibliographical Reference
Stopp #244
Published
Minardi, Lisa. Roots: Ursinus College and the Pennsylvania Germans (Trappe, Pa.: Historic Trappe, 2019). p. 67, fig. 3.41. Stopp, Klaus. The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans. 6 vols. (Mainz, Germany, and East Berlin, Pa.: privately published, 1997–99). vol. 2, pp. 142-143. Shoemaker, Alfred L. Check List of Pennsylvania Dutch Printed Taufscheins. (Lancaster, Pa.: Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center, 1952). 20.
File Format
.jpeg
Type
image
Keywords
fraktur, Pennsylvania German, Pennsylvania Dutch, folk art, illuminated manuscript, taufschein
Image Location
Rights Statement
No Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Only. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-NC/1.0/
This object has been digitized in a public-private partnership. As part of this partnership, the partners have agreed to limit commercial uses of this digital representation of the object by third parties. You can, without permission, copy, modify, distribute, display, or perform the digital object, for non-commercial uses. For any other permissible uses, please review the terms and conditions of the organization that has made the item available.
