{"product_id":"dance-of-death-death-to-the-abbot-plate","title":"1725 Dance of Death Abbot Plate","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis hand-colored copperplate engraving \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eexcerpted from\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-style: normal;\"\u003e a 1725 reissue of Matthäus Merian’s \u003c\/span\u003eTodten-Tantz \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-style: normal;\"\u003eis one of a series of \u003c\/span\u003ememento mori\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-style: normal;\"\u003e reminding viewers that death eventually levels us all—even the abbot, despite all the authority of his office.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the center of the sheet titled \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eTodt zum Apt\u003c\/em\u003e, or \"Death to the Abbot,\" is a copperplate engraving of a \u003cem\u003eTotentanz\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-style: normal;\"\u003e,\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eor “Dance of Death,” scene centered on an abbot. In it, a gaunt, skeletal figure personifying death jauntily taunts and dances around a sullen abbot clad in black robes. Death gloats here because it’s stolen the abbot’s mitre—the clerical headpiece from which the abbot draws his social status and power. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSurrounding this scene is a hand-drawn architectural border added by a later hand and unique to this piece. It shows two columns carved into mustached and sashed figures and houses letterpress elements of a printer’s housekeeping such as the page number (59), signature (H 2), a catchword (\u003cem\u003eTodt\u003c\/em\u003e) pointing to the following page, and dialogue between Death and the abbot. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA rough translation of the dialogue reads:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e         Death to the Abbot.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e         \u003c\/strong\u003eSir Abbot, I pull your mitre off,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e         \u003c\/strong\u003eand so your crozier serves you no more:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e         \u003c\/strong\u003eif you have been a good shepherd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e         \u003c\/strong\u003ehere to your sheep, that honour shall be yours.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e         The Abbot.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e         \u003c\/strong\u003eI raised myself up as an abbot,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e         \u003c\/strong\u003eand lived in high honour:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e         \u003c\/strong\u003enor did anyone set himself against me,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e         \u003c\/strong\u003eyet even so I am Death’s equal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eTotentanz\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-style: normal;\"\u003eThis plate was never meant to be viewed alone; it’s only one entry within the procession of figures that typifies the \u003c\/span\u003eTotentanz\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-style: normal;\"\u003e genre. These works are composed of a series of scenes wherein a corpse or skeleton leads archetypes from across social strata towards their common end—death. Starting with a figure of universal power (usually a pope or emperor), each plate moves one rung down the social ladder. \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eThe majority of this descent moves towards particularity, showing locale-specific offices within the town of its production. In a final return to universality, though, the series ends with recognizable figures like the peasant, painter, mother and child, and Adam and Eve.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough the engraved image originated from a mural on a 15\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e-century Dominican cemetery wall in Grossbasel, this plate comes from a 1725 Frankfurt reissue of Matthäus Merian’s \u003c\/span\u003eTodten-Tantz\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-style: normal;\"\u003e, first published in 1621 and revised in 1649. Death’s donning of the abbot’s mitre appears to be a unique invention of Merian’s not seen in other iterations of the mural. Merian here aligns the content of the verse with the image, giving Death the mitre that the verse describes it having stolen whereas all previous editions had left Death bare-headed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New World Cartographic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43655659749437,"sku":"92410","price":450.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0390\/9705\/files\/92410a.jpg?v=1789918656","url":"https:\/\/nwcartographic.com\/products\/dance-of-death-death-to-the-abbot-plate","provider":"New World Cartographic","version":"1.0","type":"link"}