Freundschaftsbillet / Love and friendship card
Elaborately embossed cream card (60 x 83mm) : lifting flap with two cupids facing each other, one holding a dove : love poem [in German] printed on blue silk underneath : inscription in brown ink [in German] to verso. Item #15974
"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 : In Ihrer / tugenhaften Brust / Da ich lägt ein herz, das seine Luft / Ganz in des Rachsten Wohlfart findet; / Die Borsichtgebe Ihnen schon / auf erden hier den größten Lohn; / viel gegen, welche nie verichwindet, / stets Freuden, die Ihr Wohlsergehn / und Ihers Lebens Glück / ehöhn.
Price: $295.00