Freundschaftsbillet / Love and friendship card
Elaborately embossed card (77 x 102mm) : recto pink and verso plain white : lifting flap with cupid facing a heart sitting atop a plinth : love poem [in German] printed on blue silk underneath : autograph message of love in brown ink [in German] to verso. Item #15973
"From around 1750 to 1850, paper remembrances evolved from the simpler French cartes de visite (calling cards) to collaged tokens that incorporate romantic, floral, mythological, and everyday motifs, as well as poems and well-wishes that are often handwritten on the back. Originating in Vienna, the production of greeting cards eventually spread to Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Prague, where numerous craftsmen created richly embellished, jewel-like cards. Others resembled toys with movable pull-tabs and levers that yield surprising images, optical puzzles, and enclosed private messages." (Johannes Joseph Endletzberger: the Fabergé of Greeting Cards by Nancy Rosin).
The Biedermeier period in decorative arts is generally considered to have occurred between1815-1848.
The enclosed poem : "Ebenerster! nimm / biesen handedruct und / kuss. / Zur Bersicherung meiner / Liebe an. / O! um meinerwillen soll Dein / Genius / Sorgsam machen uber Dein Bahn! / Da soll Blumendust, - dich Wanderer / ersfrischen, / Meine hand soll jede Falte Dir, / Jeden Schweiss von Deiner / Stirne wischen; / Friedlich soll Dein haupt / auf meinem Schoose ruh'n,/ und Du wirst, ich weiss, / an mir ein gleiches / thun."
Price: $295.00