The Greeting at the House Door.

Engraving, 22,4 x 16,8 cm, laid paper, signed in plate at lower left corner (sm. creases at corners, old repair at upper right corner).

Stuck by upper corners under passe-partout.

Enigmatic print depicting a couple meeting in a portal by the German engraver and painter Mair von Landshut (active 1490-1520). Mair's prints have been described as "fantastic architectural spaces, with walls joining at the most unlikely angles. The scenes resemble whimsical stage sets, and are endowed with an unreal character, like something from a fairy tale." (Shestack 1967). His prints are mostly very rare, with nine of them surviving only in a single impression. Possibly a later impression.
Ref. German Hollstein XXIII:20a.
Prov. Ed. Schultze (Coll. stamp L.906). - Thomas Jefferson Coolidge (Coll. stamp L. 1429).