Featured Transported via Davenport

You've seen these little desks before, sometimes called davenports, sometimes called ship captain's desks. The story is that these diminutive pieces of furniture were commissioned by an English navy officer named Captain Davenport in the very late 18th Century, with the first ones designed by cabinetmakers Gillows of Lancaster as portable desks for military campaigns.

Although the first ones were fairly simple, they evolved into the form we're more familiar with now over the course of the 19th Century. As time passed, the design became more and more intricate, with secret drawers and spaces built in. I'm going to guess that my new (old) walnut and mahogany davenport dates to the 1860s and was likely made in England. I'm transported with joy!

The thing that sets it apart, besides the beautiful craftsmanship, is the large woodcut illustrations installed on the front and back. You can see the one on the front, installed under the sloping desk part of the piece. The woodcut has been hand-tinted, and shows a biblical-type scene, although you'll have to pitch in to tell me what the scene illustrates, because I don't know. The woodcut on the other side shows another such scene, and again the subject matter escapes me. In any case, I'm not going to pull it out from the wall; you get the idea.

Thanks for your input!!

 

Of course you are! It is lovely, and perfect for your home. I have always loved Davenports.

 

Another gorgeous addition, Hopps!

I got a few hits saying the scene on front is "The Departure of Rebecca." One of which can be found here->

 

Nailed it @sabre123 !!

 

Sacre bleu! Arts décoratifs sur un davenport ?

 

Wow, superb addition!

 

Nice one! Definitely meant to hang out in someone's house and not on a ship.

 

Now that is absolutely lovely, and the illustrations make it quite special. Oooh, lucky man!

 

Sigh. I want your house and everything in it !

 

It's a beauty !!!!!!!! ,

 

It's begging to be a place to stash art paper.

 

Your engraving is “The Departure of Rebecca” or “Rebecca’s Farewell” (Genesis 24:59), depicting Rebecca leaving her father’s house with Abraham’s servant and her nurse to travel to Abraham and become Isaac’s bride. The engraving is by Ernst Dertinger ca. 1850-1900 after a painting by Henri Frédéric Schopin (12 June 1804 - 21 October 1880).

Sources:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284181760630
https://www.mediastorehouse.com/fin...ool/departure-rebekah-engraving-23275484.html
https://latinvulgate.com/verse.aspx?t=0&b=1&c=24 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG25056
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ernst_Dertinger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Frédéric_Schopin
https://americanart.si.edu/artist/henri-frederic-schopin-6514

 

Forgive me if I'm missing something, and do tell me if I'm wrong:
The only engraving I've found of this particular composition (after Chopin) online is the Dertinger engraving. That is described as a steel plate engraving and, to my eyes, is considerably different from the print on the davenport.

(Dertinger on the right)

This could just be my eyes, or it could only be the photos. What do you think?

What is the print on the other side? (or am I missing something again) It may be that both came from the same source.

 

I didn't feel like dragging the piece out into the room again yesterday after I had just cleaned and placed it. However, SINCE IT'S YOU, I did it today. Here's a photo of the engraving on the other ("back") side. There is a slight amount of foxing. I don't know the subject matter of this one, either, but I'm hoping that one of you sleuths will offer up a solution.

I think that the other side is, in fact, the above referenced Dertinger engraving. It may be that the hand tinting or lighting makes it look different from the rendering on the right, but the faces seem identical. I'm not particularly invested in whether it's Dertinger or not, just in finding out "whodunnit." Looks right to me. Thanks @Iconodule !!

 

It's another Rebecca image " Rebecca at the well", apparently by Jazet after Vernet, but I don't know the source, or if the other image is connected.

They may share the same publisher: Gupil et Vibert

 

Seconded. Abraham's servant asked her for a drink so that he could know he was talking to the right woman. At least from what I remember of the story anyway.

 

I assumed this was a tinted (hand-tinted, as Ghopper says) engraving (as the online sources indicate.) Probably not a woodcut. (I assumed that was an error.) Probably need a closeup detail to be sure, but woodcuts do not allow the same detail as engravings or etchings.

Woodcuts are relief prints. (The parts that do not print are cut away from a wooden block. The raised surfaces are inked and printed, requiring a wider, wooden base for each line.) Engravings are intaglio prints. (Incised grooves in a metal plate are inked, the surface is wiped, and the image is printed with a roller press that squeezes the paper into the grooves.) Engravers use a tool (burin) to remove the metal (usually copper or zinc), leaving fine lines/grooves incised in the metal. (Etchings use acid to "bite" lines in the metal plate.)

Example: Compare Albrecht Dürer’s “Resurrection” woodcut from his Large Passion (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1895-0122-606 ) with his engraving of the small subject in his Engraved Passion (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_E-2-57 ). Dürer’s woodcuts are as detailed as they come. Since he created both woodcuts and engravings, they are a good comparison for the differences in the media. I am not posting these images on Antiquers because the size restrictions would not allow viewers to enlarge the images to see the differences in line.

 

Abraham sent his servant to find a bride for his son Isaac. The servant asked God to give him a sign, when he asked the right young woman at the well for drink, she would also offer to draw water for his camels. (Obviously, a woman who was kind to animals would be a loving and virtuous wife.)

It is a bit blurry in the photo. I assume those are camels just behind the well. Otherwise, the artist missed the whole point on how to identify the right maiden. Going to the work of drawing enough water for ten camels (Genesis 24:10) is the identifying factor.

Genesis 24: 14-19 (Full story Genesis 24)

https://latinvulgate.com/verse.aspx?t=0&b=1&c=24

"Now, therefore, the maid to whom I shall say: Let down thy pitcher that I may drink: and she shall answer, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let it be the same whom thou hast provided for thy servant Isaac: and by this, I shall understand that thou hast shewn kindness to my master.

He had not yet ended these words within himself, and behold Rebecca came out, the daughter of Bathuel, son of Melcha, wife to Nachor the brother of Abraham, having a pitcher on her shoulder:
An exceeding comely maid, and a most beautiful virgin, and not known to man: and she went down to the spring, and filled her pitcher, and was coming back.

And the servant ran to meet her, and said: Give me a little water to drink of thy pitcher.

And she answered: Drink, my lord. And quickly she let down the pitcher upon her arm, and gave him drink.

And when he had drunk, she said: I will draw water for thy camels also, till they all drink.

And pouring out the pitcher into the troughs, she ran back to the well to draw water; and having drawn, she gave to all the camels."

 

Yup. The language is different, but that's how I learned it too. (King James, New American Standard,NIV, etc) Volunteering to do a backbreaking job without being asked definitely marked her as the right one.