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Lot 527

Albrecht Dürer
(1471-1528)
The Coat of Arms with a Skull

9 – 17 January 2025, 10:00 PST
Online, Los Angeles

Sold for US$15,360 inc. premium

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Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

The Coat of Arms with a Skull (Bartsch 101, Meder, Hollstein 98, Schoch, Mende, Scherbaum 37), 1503
Engraving on laid paper without watermark, Meder state I c-d (of d), trimmed to the platemark, framed.
sheet 8 3/4 x 6 1/16in (22.2 x 15.9cm)

Footnotes

Lot Essay
Albrecht Dürer is one of the most influential figures in printmaking. His expansive body of graphic works showcased technical virtuosity, intellectual depth, and psychological elements that were unparalleled by his predecessors. This engraving titled The Coat of Arms with the Skull showcases incredible linework and poses as a visual allegory, intertwining themes of love and death. Dürer creates an ominous composition, depicting a wild man encroaching upon a patrician Nuremberg lady wearing a festive dress and wedding crown. She peers amusingly across the bearded man at the ornate helmet with sublime winged plumes failing to see that the promise of this coat of arms is not victory, but death.

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