Christian Ernst Beschler
Birth and Baptismal Certificate

Public Domain

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Artist Christian Ernst BeschlerAmerican, born Germany, active 1796–c. 1815

CultureAmerican

Titles

Birth and Baptismal Certificate

Datec. 1815

PlaceUpper Mahanoy Township, Pennsylvania, United States

MediumWatercolor and ink on laid paper

DimensionsSheet: 13 3/4 × 16 5/16 in. (34.9 × 41.4 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by Carol and Frank Holcomb

Object numberB.2022.10

Not on view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

DRAWINGS, PASTELS & WATERCOLORS

DescriptionPennsylvania German fraktur, or decorated Germanic manuscripts, gets its name from the “broken” lettering (Latin: fractura). The fraktur tradition began in Europe in the 16th century and persisted into the twentieth; it came to Pennsylvania with the arrival of the first German colonists in 1683. The most typical Pennsylvania German fraktur is the Geburts und Taufschein, or birth and baptismal certificate, which reflects the significance of baptism in the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. Other types of fraktur include house blessings, writing samples, and valentines. These certificates recorded genealogical and geographic information about the birth and baptism of a child. Recent scholarship suggests that, in contrast to European examples, the emphasis on genealogical information in colonial and early United States examples reflects the limited administrative resources of local churches. Local schoolmasters, such as Christian Beschler who painted this fraktur, created the majority of fraktur from about 1750 to 1820. Preprinted forms later dominated the fraktur market, roughly from 1810 to 1900.
ProvenanceThomas Harry Umholtz (1946–2016), Valley View, Pennsylvania; Estate of Thomas Harry Umholtz; auctioned by [Rick Schadel, Gratz, Pennsylvania, April 7, 2018]; purchased by [Philip H. Bradley Antiques, Downingtown, Pennsylvania, 2018]; purchased by MFAH, 2022.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Recto: Inscribed: Lydia Haas, Georg Haas und seiner Ehefrau / Elizabeth, gebornen Müller, eheliche Tochter ist ge: / boren am 19ten Februar 1815 in Ober-Machanay / Taunschip, Northumberland Caunty in Pennsilvanien. / Sie ward getuaft am 12ten April 1815 von Hrr [?] / Reyly und erhielt den Namen Lydia. Die Tauf / Zeugen sind: Georg Paul and Maria Zerfink. / [paraph]

Verso: Inaccessible

Recto: [none]
Verso: Inaccessible

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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