Close-ups

Ritual Dance in Brazil in the 17th Century on a Copper Engraving by Montanus, close-up 1

Ritual Dance in Brazil in the 17th Century on a Copper Engraving by Montanus, close-up 2

Ritual Dance in Brazil in the 17th Century on a Copper Engraving by Montanus, close-up 3

Ritual Dance in Brazil in the 17th Century on a Copper Engraving by Montanus, close-up 4

Framed and on the wall

Ritual Dance in Brazil in the 17th Century on a Copper Engraving by Montanus, shown framed

Ritual Dance in Brazil in the 17th Century on a Copper Engraving by Montanus, shown framed on a wall, true to size

Ritual Dance in Brazil in the 17th Century on a Copper Engraving by Montanus, shown framed in a room, true to size

Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look, drawn to its real size; it is sold unframed unless the description says otherwise.

Rites of the World

Ritual Dance in Brazil in the 17th Century on a Copper Engraving by Montanus

Name: Ritual Dance in Brazil in the 17th Century on a Copper Engraving by Montanus
Brand: Antique Sacred Prints
SKU: f_37765872
Price: 505 USD
Availability: InStock

£380

$505 · €450

Original print, not a reproduction

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Date: Not stated
Sheet size: 12.2 × 7.5 in (31 × 19 cm)
Condition: Good. Expected age-related tonality changes and potential marginal foxing. The paper shows signs of handling, such as soft creases and wear along left edge. Lower left corner cut short. Please study the image carefully.
Faith: Indigenous Americas
Collection: Rites of the World
Stock no.: f_37765872

A ceremonial dance in Brazil, an original copper engraving from the German edition of Arnoldus Montanus's Die Unbekante Neue Welt oder Beschreibung des Welt-teils Amerika und des Sud-Landes, published in Amsterdam by Jacob Meurs in 1673. The title appears in the listing as "Ritual Dance in Brazil"; the sheet is trimmed to the picture.

A crowd of dancers fills an open compound enclosed by a palisade. At the center a man wearing a feather costume stands on a box and raises a rattle, while others in feather garments, some holding rattles or pipes, dance around him. In the foreground, men crouch and move with large bunches of feathers tied at the waist. Palm trees and tall cypress-like trees rise behind the fence, and the curved roof of a long thatched house stands at the back right.

Montanus compiled his account of the Americas from earlier travel writers, and plates like this one fed the picture seventeenth-century readers had of the peoples of the New World.