Whatever! A ‘quodlibet’ print dispenses with illusionism.

[Tromp l’oeil]. [Quodlibet etching]. S.l. [southern Germany]: s.n., s.a. [18th century]. [12.5 x 8.1 cm], [1] f. etching with contemporary hand-color. Minor staining and toning.
 
 
An unusual 18th-century small German devotional print in the form of a ‘quodlibet.’ The quodlibet—Latin for “whatever you please”—was a type of tromp-l’oeil painting that reached its peak in the late 18th century. It typically was a depiction of a group of two-dimensional manuscript or printed (typographical, xylographic, intaglio) pieces of paper seen head on, as if arranged on a table or pinned to a wall. These items often were united by a common theme. The viewer was meant to marvel at the extremely precise illusionism of the depictions.
 
Quodlibets also appeared in the form of illusionistic engravings or etchings, which were carefully colored by hand. The quodlibet, in addition to displaying artistic virtuosity, acted as a meta-picture, in which paintings were made of engravings or of handwriting, or engravings were made of engravings, etc. etc.
 
The small quodlibet offered here is interesting in that it participates in the fad for quodlibets while dispensing entirely with the illusionism that is at the heart of the concept. It is a highly abbreviated quodlibet-like depiction of devotional items, such as prints/drawings of the Sacred Name of Mary, a monk, a lion, a German prayer (“Gelobt sei Jesus Christus. In Ewigkeit”), etc.
 
 
This print is not recorded in OCLC, KVK, OMNIA or the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, nor have I seen it in the literature on the topic, but similar items are known, e.g., the item discussed by Horst Heres in his Das private Andachtsbild: Devotionale, Andenken, Amulett (ill. 134, p. 88).