1787 · England
England, 1787. Very good. Light toning, dust soiling. A couple small short tears, a small arm bent.. An exceptional example of an English hand-cut folk art valentine with an inscription dated 1787. Features an intricate design including sawtooth edges, heart and dove imagery, and pinpricking for texture (e.g. in the doves' wings to mimic feathers). There is one central circle surrounded by eight smaller circles, each containing a gentleman in a cape holding a heart with his sweetheart. Considerable skill was necessary to design such a complex image with many panels, and to cut it without any major losses. There is also a manuscript inscription that begins (truncated)