Baking pattern

Description

The quadripartite pattern, stamped *GOETZ GRAVEUR ' IN BASEL", shows scenes that will charm the historian of dress and culture. At top left the first shepherd comes to worship the Christchild, beckoning the two others who are outside the picture. The kneeling Virgin is dressed in the style of the Empire period in a long garment of fine material. The scene below is the Flight into Egypt: Joseph carries his carpenter's tools on his back. At top right a gunner has just fired a cannon with a fuse. His uniform with three cornered hat, long tailed jacket, short waistcoat and knee breeches can be dated to the early C19. The scene below is a winter excursion in elegant swan necked sledges, while the horse has a caparison with bells. The craftsman responsible, Nikolaus Wilhelm Gotz, who is documented about 1835 as a "device maker" resident in "lesser Basle", also engraved patterns for moulds for table decorations made of 'Tragant' (comparable to present day salt dough). These tiny decorations often also had written 'devices' or mottoes.