Melchior Lorck, Nine Tughs (Turkish Standards)

When Melchior Lorck (1526/27 - after 1588) was planning a tome about Turkey in the 1570s and wanted to create a woodcut to show what Turkish flags looked like, he first made a range of different preliminary studies for the work. Presumably more such study leaves existed, but this is the only surviving example. On the basis of the studies Lorck then designed a more accurate design for the woodcut. He handed the design to a block-cutter, who copied it onto the block and carved after it, upon which the block was used for printing. Closer inspection soon reveals that the woodcut and the design are not entirely identical. Presumably yet another, now lost, version of the design existed, and this design was what Lorck gave to the block-cutter. It may also be that Lorck himself transferred the design to the block, adjusting it in the process. We do not know.