Unrecorded first communion souvenir etching in contemporary color.

[First communion etching]. Laissez venir a moi les petits enfants. [Blank] a fait sa 1.ere Communion dans la Paroisse de [blank] le [blank] du mois de [blank] de l’An 18[blank]. [France]: s.n., [early 19th century].   Single sheet [15.3 x 11.3 cm the sheet], [1] f. etching on laid paper, with contemporary hand-color. Trimmed inside platemark on two sides, very minor wrinkling, color still rich and bright.
 
 
Unrecorded early 19th-century French etching, decorated in vibrant contemporary hand-color, intended as a souvenir of a child’s first communion. The (unused) blank form was to be filled in with the child’s name, the parish where the ceremony was performed, and the date. The etching depicts the host and chalice in the form of a retable atop an altar whose front carries a relief sculpture of the paschal lamb. Flanking the host/chalice are images of a phoenix and a pelican feeding its young, symbols of Christ’s resurrection and sacrifice. The verse (in French), “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me” (Matthew 19:14) is displayed on a banderole at the top of the plate. Ephemeral paper mementos of the first communion rarely survive from this era: One must imagine that many such items were torn or soiled by children even before they left the church. This example likely owes its survival to the fact that it was never used.
 
Not recorded in OCLC or KVK.