Omslag met negen prenten van het Frankfurter Wachthaus c. 1729 - 1730

This is Johann Jakob Samhammer's cover with nine prints of the Frankfurt Watch House, made at an unknown date with pen and brush in blue. In eighteenth-century Frankfurt, the Watch House played a crucial role in maintaining social order. Samhammer’s design, adorned with floral and fruit patterns, presents a softer image of civic authority. But the choice of ornamentation is not without political meaning. The fruit and floral patterns were fashionable at the time and indicate that those in power saw themselves as cultured and refined. To understand the piece better, we might delve into Frankfurt’s civic archives, exploring records of the Watch House’s activities. We might also look at the fashion and design trends in Frankfurt at the time. In doing so, we come to understand this artwork as an emblem of civic pride, but also as an insight into the social and political assumptions of its time.