Biblical Circumcision Print - Scheuchzer - Physica Sacra 1731-1735 - Classical Latin Version - Zipora Circumcidens - Bris - Brit Milah

Treasures from the Biblical Art Collection The Grand Review.  Print size 16 x 24, and works beautifully with a 16 x 24 frame, or custom framed as you see fit.

Johann Jakob Scheuchzer was a true polymath during the Age of Enlightenment.  His early 18th century monumental illustrated work, Physica Sacra, celebrates the wonders of the Bible and the wonders of science, in many cases seeking to reconcile the two with his own views of how things must truly be.  That legacy leaves us with a fairly amazing combination of very traditional renditions of great moments from the Bible and others seen through the lens of his era and interpreted at times differently now.

We have been collecting leaves from disbound editions of the Physicra Sacra for years.  Putting them through our process, we feature two distinct versions of each image.  One featuring the classical Latin text and discarding the ornate Old German, the other doing just the opposite.  We've found our choices have brought a certain harmony to the layout, much more suitable now as a large print.

Our restored version of this print has proved very popular with Jews here and abroad.  Rather than wax poetic about the spiritual importance of The Bris here to an audience who will almost universally know more than I do about its meaning I will, if I may, share a story.

My beloved has been going to the same dentist for 30 years, and I have gone to him for nearly 20.  He is a special man in the joy he seems to generate as well as his utter mastery of every conceivable aspect of dentistry.

He has several children, and his youngest son is now a freshly minted Rabbi.  I don't know his kids, but the way he speaks of them I get the sense that the most joyful of this rather happy family is the new Rabbi.  After showering him with mazel tovs, I showed Dr. S this print and asked his advice how I should best get it seen by mohels everywhere.  I figured, beyond the biblical story told therein, the decorative border festooned with ancient flint knives for the ceremony would delight every mohel who saw it, and a great many families who have come together for the Brit Milah.

We suddenly fell into a short, unexpected comedy routine worthy of a Mel Brooks bit.  "Mohel" he said, in a correcting tone.  "Yes, 'mohel'" I replied, sounding every bit the WASP Quaker kid from Pennsylvania.  Mine sounded like Popeye's girlfriend's last name, but with an M.  "Mohel" he said again, now in more of a patient but emphatic teaching tone, clearly comfortable with a lifetime of hearing and pronouncing Hebrew.  "Mohel!" I said, louder, with considerable enthusiasm, trying for a split second of hesitation between the beginning and ending of the word.

It did go on from there...

SHIPPING

All prints are shipped in a sturdy mailing tube for $8, which covers postage, tube and S & H.

BUYING MORE THAN ONE PRINT?  Add a second print or any number thereafter of this or any other prints in our catalog and shipping is still just $8, total!!!

International shipping is available and reasonable. Please contact us for details.

A NOTE ON OUR PROCESS, OUR CHOICES AND THE QUALITY OF THE GRAPHIC CRAFTSMANSHIP THAT GOES INTO OUR PRINTS.

Every print we deem exciting enough to present to the public via our Etsy store or available here at our studio has gone through a number of steps.  The first of those is always discovering and falling in love with an obscure image, always an original that we can hold in our hands.  That image is speaking to us, sometime screaming “Don’t leave me here.  See what I am, what I was, what I can be, what I SHOULD be!”

There is a real sense of excitement involved, and a great many smiles and knowing grins when we make that deal and bring that ancient print, that battered photo, that scrap of ephemera that contains some scrap of genius from an unknown commercial artist home with us, knowing already how we mean to approach its restoration.

There is the heady promise of a further hunt just as real as what drags a weekend fisherman out of bed at 3AM to work a favorite brook as we start our research, looking for that great backstory, and both ready and willing to tumble down as many rabbit holes as are revealed to us to get that story.

Then there is a meticulous digital restoration that is as often as much fun as riding a vintage Moto Guzzi on a winding coastal road.  I don’t care if that sounds crazy, it really is like jumping in the saddle!  So many choices, so many chances to take to subtly or spectacularly give new life to otherwise permanently obscure images.

This dedication and the ongoing rush of joy in the accomplishment of it, and the opportunity to share the results in our studio and here on Etsy, is the fire of passion that keeps these engines roaring. We make every effort to ensure our customers are not just satisfied but thrilled, and we happily stand 100% behind our work.