M3326 Representation of Faith & Hope, Coat-of-Arms of Corbinian Prielmayer Cutting from a Manuscript on Vellum, with a large Heraldic Miniature Germany, Bavaria, 1694

M3326 Representation of Faith & Hope, Coat-of-Arms of Corbinian Prielmayer

Cutting from a Manuscript on Vellum, with a large Heraldic Miniature

Germany, Bavaria, 1694

Provenance: From a manuscript made for Corbinian Prielmayer (1643-1707).

Commentary: The career of Corbinian Prielmayer (Prielmaier), Bavarian statesman, is summarized in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (vol. 26, pp. 586-88).  The family was ennobled in 1685 and, in 1692, Prielmayer received permission to add “von” to his name.  Two years later his family was received in the Reichsfreiherrnstand.  The arms were conferred at this time (they are reproduced in V. and H. Rolland, J.-B. Rietstap: General Illustrated Armorial, Vol. 5, The Hague, 1938, pl. IC).  Corbinian Prielmaier is mentioned on the verso of the present leaf.

Decoration:  Flanking the arms are personifications of Faith (holding a cross and trampling a figure who probably represents heresy) and Hope (wielding an anchor).  Below, on a small shield, is Prielmayer’s motto, “Deus A[lpha] et O[m]e[ga] Spes Noster” (tr. “God, Alpha and Omega, is our Hope”).  The motto seems related to the alpha and omega shapes formed in the coat-of-arms by the gold and black areas and the curved anchor.  At the bottom right is another small shield with double entwined “C’s.”

Size:  6 ½ x 6 1/8 inches