Original 18th-century engraved copperplate.

[Copperplate]. [Annunciation]. S.l. [Antwerp?]: s.n., s.a. [18th century]. [8.8 x 6.3 cm the plate; 10. 6 x 7.7 cm the envelope], [1] original copperplate, with a modern envelope to which is affixed a modern strike from the plate. Plate well preserved; modern print and envelope well preserved.
 
 
Original 18th-century etched copperplate—a rare survival—depicting the Annunciation. The plate comes with a modern strike, which is affixed to an envelope labeled in Dutch “O. L. Vr. Boodschap” (“Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Boodschap”), i.e., Our Lady of the Annunciation.
 
The plate is unsigned but is consistent with work from Antwerp. The fact that the plate carries no publisher’s address perhaps suggests that it was not principally used for separately issued prints, but for book illustration or to decorate ephemeral material produced for one of the many Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Boodschap churches or confraternities across Flanders.
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.