The Royal Württemberg stud, the first Arabian stud in Europe

Kuntz, Rudolf. Abbildungen Königlich Württembergischer Gestütts Pferde von orientalischen Racen.

Stuttgart, [Ebner], 1823-1824.

Oblong folio (550 x 635 mm). Issues I and II (of 3). With 12 (out of 18) tinted chalk lithographs by L. Ekeman-Allesson after R. Kuntz. Wants text and table of subscribers. Stored loosely in 2 original wrappers with title label and green original half calf portfolio with gilt-lettered title and borders. Traces of ties.

 48,000.00

First and only edition. Commissioned by the Board of the Württemberg Stud, the first Arabian stud in Europe, this almost unobtainable series of large format plates shows the Stud's full-blooded Arabian horses with decorative oriental backgrounds. The plates constitute extremely early examples of chalk lithographs (listed individually by Winkler, Frühzeit der dt. Lithographie, 180, 57). Kuntz (1797-1848) was known for his "excellent depictions of horses" (cf. Thieme/B.); throughout his brief career he studied thoroughbreds in England, Hungary, and Paris as well as in Germany. In 1832 he became Painter to the Court of Karlsruhe, Baden; he suffered a stroke in 1846 and died in the newly-founded Illenau mental hospital.

Very slightly stained in places, three plates slightly browned. Of the utmost rarity. This copy removed from the collection of the House of Hanover, dispersed from 2005 (largely through Sotheby's). Includes a publisher's ad (by L. Harrison, Strand) for "A Series of Lithographic Drawings of Celebrated Horses" after James Ward, dedicated to George IV.

References

Nissen 2327. Thieme/B. X, 444 & XXII, 116. Winkler, Die Frühzeit der dt. Lithographie 180.57.

Stock Code: BN#46736 Tags: , , ,