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Artist/Maker

Fraktur: Certificate of the Birth and Baptism of Peter Lang in Berks County, Pennsylvania

1803
Place madePennsylvania, United States, North America
Watercolor, brown ink, and gouache on beige paper
Overall: 8 5/8 x 12 3/4 in. ( 21.9 x 32.4 cm )
Elie Nadelman, Museum of Folk Arts, Riverdale-on-Hudson, Bronx, New York
1937.1811
The Pennsylvania Germans practiced a manuscript art called Frakturschrift or Zierschrift in German ("fraktur" in museum and collecting terminology). This art form, combining calligraphy with decorative motifs in ink and watercolor, was produced widely in Pennsylvania and in German settlements in other states from the mid-18th to the mid-19th century.
DescriptionFraktur: Horizontal rectangular sheet with handwritten German inscription enclosed in a heart in the center; decoration in sepia and bright pink watercolor consisting of a flower in each upper corner and a bird in each lower corner.
InscribedInscribed in German at center: "Peter Lang / ist geboren den 3ten Mertz 1803 in Pennsyl. / in Berks Cownty in Longswain Townschip. / Der Vater war Peter Lang und die / Mutter Elizabetha eine geborne / Küferin und wurde getauft von Hn. Henr / Helfrig. Taufzeugen waren Peter / Küfer und seine Frau / Maria."
ClassificationsDRAWINGS