Mysteria Cereris Et Bacchi In Vasculo ex uno Onyche ... Ferdinandi Alberti, Ducis Brunsuicens. & Lüneburg. Capituli Argentorat. Evangelici Senioris &c.
A 1682 Latin treatise by Johann Heinrich Eggeling on the Mysteries of Ceres and Bacchus, illustrated with engraved plates of a carved onyx vessel, dedicated to Duke Ferdinand Albert of Brunswick-Lüneburg and held by Heidelberg University Library. The plates show a two-handled ewer with a lid and a lower band of carved reliefs with figures and foliage, drawn in fine black line with dense hatching that reads like antique sculpture. A designer could take from them the crisp contour line, classical relief figures and ornamental friezes, while the printed Latin page and the woodcut flower border show period typography and botanical ornament.
