Pieter Potter - Interior of an Inn with Drinkers and Smokers

Pieter Symonsz Potter A Tavern scene Amsterdam: Clement de Jonghe, C1650. Rare first edition. Engraved by Gerrit Adriaensz. de Heer. This mid Seventeenth century engraving shows the interior of an inn, with drinkers and smokers. Mounted onto stiff paper, the engraving is in good, clean condition. Signed in the plate. The names of the drinkers are engraved by each figure. Engraving is 162 × 221 mm. Sheet size 17 × 23.5 cm. The Characters: Hein Boon: the standing figure at the back left Marri Vinken: the woman smoking a pipe (the first letter after “Marri” is unclear) Roel Otten: the man behind her Ceessen Aren: the man bending over with his back to us Marri Correns: the woman with her arm thrown up Klas Kadt: the grinning man with the jug, lower right Ianten Zidtcast: the figure seated at the back right Ceessen Trincken: the figure slumped on the floor, lower left The characters read like comic peasant names . For example “Trincken” (drinking) for the man passed out on the floor are typical A woman smoking a pipe, front and centre. Female smokers were a stock subject of comic and moralising prints, showing a household turned upside down. The drunk asleep on the floor with his jug, and the overturned tankard in the foreground, are the moral warning about drink. The man at the back left facing the fireplace corner is probably relieving himself, a common joke in these scenes. Klas Kadt and Marri Correns look as if they are about to dance, or sing.

Estimate:£211.52

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