Madonna, Child & John the Baptist: Engraved copperplate from the Low Countries.

[Copperplate]. La S.te Vierge. St. Jean Présentant l’Agneau Pascal à notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ. S.l. [Antwerp?]: s.n., s.a. [late 18th century or early 19th century]. [15.4 x 10.7 cm the plate; 19.4 x 12.3 cm the envelope], [1] original engraved-etched copperplate, verso marked “Gallois,” with a modern envelope to which is affixed a modern strike from the plate. Plate well preserved; modern print and envelope well preserved.
 
 
Original late 18th- or early 19th-century etched copperplate—a rare survival—depicting the infant John the Baptist presenting the Paschal Lamb to the Christ Child seated on the lap of the Virgin.
 
The plate is unsigned but is consistent with work from the Low Countries. Antwerp is its likely place of origin.
The fresh image quality of the modern strike indicates that the copperplate was not run through the press until worn out, as was often the fate of popular prints of this sort. I locate no contemporary copies of this print surviving today (at the major repositories for such items, e.g., the Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, or the University of Antwerp).
 
 
* E.-H. van Heurck, “Les images de dévotion Anversoises,” De Gulden Passer, vol. 8 (1930), pp. 67-166; O. Thiers, ’t Putje van Heiloo bedevaarten naar O.L. Vrouw ter Nood; E. M. F. Verheggen, Beelden voor Passie & Hartstocht: Bid- en devotieprenten in de Noordelijke Nederlanden, 17de en 18de eeuw.