Tongue John of Nepomuk. Very rare engraving.

[Relics] / [John of Nepomuk]. O Gebenedeute Zung, die du alle Zeit Gott gelobet und ver Ursachet, das ihme auch andere loben, seye mir eine Erbauliche Zung, damit ich alles zur aufferbauung meines nechsten rede, auf das Gott… Prague: “Pra: zu finden bey Anna Regina Millerin Nepst den Tein,” s.a. [c. 1730]. [15.0 x 9.9 cm], [1] f. engraving on laid paper, with contemporary hand-color. Toned.

Rare (1 copy worldwide: Germanisches Nationalmuseum) circa-1730 devotional engraving—here in unusual contemporary hand-color—depicting one of the stranger relics of Christendom, the tongue of the Bohemian saint John of Nepomuk (c. 1345-93). The tongue is now preserved at the Saint’s pilgrimage church at Zelená hora, near Žďár nad Sázavou (Czech Republic).

The engraving carries the address of the Prague printseller Anna Regina Millerin (Müllerin) whose shop can be found “Nepst den Tein,” i.e., adjacent to the Teynhof (Týn). The etching itself was executed by Jan Hiller (“Hiller Sc:”), who was active in Prague in circa 1716-46.

The apparently uneven application of color to the print is in fact intended to show the flush of color that appeared in the tongue (a miracle) when it was examined on 27 January 1725. The banderole held by putti at the base of the tongue refers to the date of this event.

The (rather dense) German text at the foot of the engraving is a prayer to the tongue, emphasizing matters of speech. Above the tongue is the verse 1 Cor. 14:2 “Sie redet den Menschen zur Erbauung und zur Ermahnung und zum Trost” (“But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort” [KJV]).

John of Nepomuk was tortured, killed, and thrown from the Charles Bridge into the Vltava River at the order of King Wenceslaus IV. The murder was political, but a legend later grew that the King executed John because John had heard the Queen’s confession and would not reveal her secrets (he “held his tongue”).

In 1719 John of Nepomuk’s tomb was opened, and his tongue was found intact, which reinforced his status as a martyr of the Seal of the Confessional and a patron against calumnies. He was beatified in 1721, canonized in 1729, and his pilgrimage church was built between 1720 and 1729.

“Nepomuk Tongue” engravings and other tongue-related devotional items soon proliferated, but few have survived today.

I locate only the copy at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.

*R. Hocker & W. Telesko, Johannes von Nepomuk: Kult - Künste – Kommunikation; Ex. cat., Johannes von Nepomuk: Variationen über ein Thema (1973).