Design for a Sword or Dagger Handle with the Suicide of Cleopatra

Theodor de Bry

1592–93 · Engraving and blackwork · Drawings and Prints

Handle design divided horizontally into two sections, each with a female figure in an oval at center. In the oval at top, Cleopatra holds a snake in her left hand, while the oval below shows a female figure leaning on a broken column and holding the top section of the column. On a grotesque blackwork background.

Artist

Theodor de Bry

Date

1592–93

Medium

Engraving and blackwork

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962