Hans Sibmacher or Siebmacher was another Nuremberg engraver; he worked
there quite at the close of the sixteenth century and in the early years
of the seventeenth. He also executed a book-plate for a member of the
Holzschuher family. This is a more elaborate piece of work than Amman's,
though smaller (4-1/2 × 3-3/8 inches). Its characteristic feature is a
closely-woven wreath of leaves, with clusters of fruit and ornaments
introduced at intervals. Seated on this wreath, at the top of the
design, are two reading cherubs clothed in 'nature unadorned.' Below the
design is an oblong and indented bracket.
Hans Troschel's work as a book-plate engraver is illustrated by the
book-plate of yet another Nuremberg man--John William Kress of
Kressenstain, dated in 1619. In this we are shown a shield set in an
oval wreath of leaf-work. The helmet which surmounts it displays some
elaborate work; finely-cut mantling extends itself from this on the
right side and on the left; and above is a cornet, which encircles the
crest. The whole is enclosed in a circle of leaves and berries, somewhat
similar to that just described in speaking of Sibmacher's work; but
outside this, at each of the four corners of the plate, are small
shields surmounted by helmets and crests, and containing the arms of the
four families from which he immediately descended, their names being
given. Nestling amongst the mantling on the left side of the design is a
distinct shield, on which are depicted the arms of Susanna Koler, wife
of the owner of the book-plate.
Wolffgang Kilian (born 1581, died 1662) was an Augsburg man, and the
book-plate which bears his signature and the date, 1635, is that of an
Augsburg church dignitary--Sebastian Myller, suffragan-bishop of
Adramytteum, and Canon of Augsburg. In its ornamentation it bears some
resemblance to an English Jacobean book-plate. Above the shield is the
head of a cherub, on which the episcopal mitre is made to rest in a
somewhat comical manner; the cherub's wings protrude over the top of,
and into, the shield. The inscription is contained in an oval band;
outside this is an oval leaf-wreath, and outside this again an indented
frame. Wolffgang was a younger brother of the more noted Lucas Kilian.
Both brothers studied at Venice, and were pupils of their stepfather,
Dominick Custos, who was himself a designer of book-plates.
Of Giles Sadeler's work--the Count of Rosenberg's book-plate--I shall
speak directly (pp. 130, 131). An example of his nephew's engraving is
afforded by the book-plate of Ferdinand von Hagenau, dated in 1646.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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