The Bronze Age.

Engraving, 24,5 x 25 cm, laid paper, signed in the plate at lower right "Aegidius Quinetus/Phillipus Galle Fecit, 1573" (Sl. vertical crease at top centre, lower text margin trimmed).

Plate from a rare series featuring the four ages (Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron) of the world as told in Hesiod and Ovid. One of the few engravings after designs of the Antwerp artist Gilles Coignet. A good early impression of the 1st state.
Ref. New Hollstein (Galle), 380.
Joined: Sadeler, Johannes. After Maarten de Vos - Jabal and his family resting with their cattle. Antwerp, 1583. Engraving, 20,5 x 26,5 cm, laid paper with watermark, signed in the plate "Johan. Sadl. inv. at Scalps" (several creases, sm. tear at upper left edge, brown stain at upper right corner). From the series "The Story of the First Men" (12 pl.). Ref. Hollstein XXXI:34. (2 pcs)