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Descriptif du lot
This small print is a very lively and sympathetic, well-observed depiction of a family of pigs going about their business, with the piglets gamboling around, two rubbing their necks together, the sow seated at right and the hog standing amongst them. Wurzbach suggested its use as a playing card or a template for goldsmithing. Lehrs dismissed both ideas and questioned why this composition in particular should have lent itself more than any other as a model for metalwork.
Elements of it certainly served as a model for other usages, including in playing cards and early zoological literature, and it seems likely that the young Albrecht Dürer was aware of it when he created his engraving of the Prodigal Son among the swine around 1496 (see lot 67).Schongauer's engraving is a great rarity: Hollstein records only 18 impressions in public collections and non have been offered at auction for over thirty years.
Elements of it certainly served as a model for other usages, including in playing cards and early zoological literature, and it seems likely that the young Albrecht Dürer was aware of it when he created his engraving of the Prodigal Son among the swine around 1496 (see lot 67).Schongauer's engraving is a great rarity: Hollstein records only 18 impressions in public collections and non have been offered at auction for over thirty years.