1665 Broadside, Conrad Meyer, “Türkischer Jamerspiegel” Turkish Ottoman Wars

Broadside

Türkischer Jamerspiegel, oder Buss sporren / C. Meyer fecit

Meyer, Conrad [1618-1689]; Simler, Johann Wilhelm [1605-1672];

Burgerbibliothek Zürich, 1665.

Engraved plate of 27 x 27 cm on fine folio leaf.

Hollstein's German engravings, etchings and woodcuts, Bd. XXVII, Amsterdam 1980, S. 131, Nr. 220 ; Zürcher Neujahrsblätter, Zürich 1971, S. 3

The circular image in the middle shows a Turkish raid. The prophecy from Jeremiah 5:15f is quoted around the picture. and 6.22f. where there is talk of the approaching judgment in the form of a strange people that will come over Judah. – This refers to the Turks who waged war against the Christian peoples in 1663/64.

The four pictures in the corners show the four elements. The catastrophic events assigned to them are, on the one hand, omens (according to the theory, especially from the 16th century, as mentioned by Conrad Lycosthenes in 1557 and in the leaflet literature), which are intended to drive people to penance (hence the title Penance Spur); on the other hand, punishments for the sins of men.

Fire. A city (resembling Zurich) under a hail of fire; a comet in the sky.

Air. Emaciated people cut up an animal carcass; in the background a grim reaper on a horse (cf. the four horsemen of the apocalypse).

Water. Several people try to save themselves from a deluge-like (cf. the contemporary expression ›sin-flood‹) inundation on land.

Earth: Earthquake destroys a city; a rock breaks off a mountain; a fire dragon in the sky.

Condition: Some minor surface soiling. Minor printing fault to image.