Object Number 1958.0120.013 A

Object Name

Fraktur (Religious text)

Title

Geistlicher Irrgarten (Spiritual Maze or Labyrinth)

Category

Works on Paper

Credit Line/Donor

Museum purchase with funds provided by Henry Francis du Pont

Creator (Role)

Johann Henrich Otto (Decorator)
02/05/1733-c. 1799
References: Earnest, Papers for Birth Dayes, pp. 312-19. Otto started making hand-drawn fraktur in the 1770s and printed broadsides in 1772. He also used birth and baptismal certificates printed at Ephrata Cloister in the 1780s (the earliest printed date is 1784). He marred Anna Catharine Dauterich, and they are believed to have had ten children, including four sons who also became fraktur artists: William (1761-1841), Jacob (active in Lancaster County, n. d.), Conrad (1770-1857; his son, P. C. Otto, was also a fraktur scrivener) and Daniel (c. 1770-c. 1821; formerly known as the Flat Tulip Artist). (See Earnest, p. 313.)

Ephrata Cloister printshop (Printer)
References: Stopp, The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans, vol. 2, pp. 98-217. The Ephrata printshop is credited with producing the first printed certificates in America. Its press printed forty editions by 1800. (Stopp, p. 98).

Place of Origin

Ephrata, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America

Date

1784

Materials

Ink; Watercolor; Paper (laid)

Techniques

Drawn, Letterpress, Hand colored, Painted

Dimensions (inches)

20.88 (H) , 16.37 (W) , 20.87 (Image H) , 16.37 (Image W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

53 (H) , 41.58 (W) , 20.87 (Image H) , 16.37 (Image W)

Measurement Notes

H at left. W at bottom. Chain intervals: 2.8-3.4 cm; 10 laid lines per cm.

Watermark

none

Coloring

Hand colored with watercolors

Object Description

Text available soon.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Article] Evans, Nancy Goyne. 02//1973 Documented Fraktur in the Winterthur collection, Part I. Antiques. 103 (2): 307-18.
• Published as fig. 4, pp. 308-9.
[Book] Earnest, Russell D. & Earnest, Corinne P. 2005 Flying Leaves and One-Sheets: Pennsylvania German Broadsides, Fraktur, and Their Printers.
• For other examples of spiritual mazes, see pp. 280-285.
[Book] Yoder, Don. 2005 The Pennsylvania German Broadside: A History and Guide.
• For other examples of spiritual mazes, see pp. 181-183.
[Book] Shelley, Donald A. 1961 The Fraktur-Writings or Illuminated Manuscripts of the Pennsylvania Germans. 23.
• For related examples, see p. 124, 142 and pl. 189.
[Book] Bird, Michael S. 2002 O Noble Heart: Fraktur and Spirituality in Pennsylvania German Folk Art.
• Published as fig. 107, on p. 110.