A broadside on the ill fated coronation of Emperor Charles VII of Bohemia c1741
[BROADSIDE]; PFHAUNTZ, Gottfried (engraver); MEHRER, David (publisher).
Die durch siegende und beglückte Waffen dem Allerdurchlauchtigsten, Großmächtigsten Fürsten und Herrn / Herrn Carolum Albertum, Churfürsten in Bayern und Ertz-Herzog in Österreich etc. vom Himmel gescheneckte Böhmische Königs-Krone …
(By Victorious and Blessed Arms to the Most Serene and Mighty Prince and Lord Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria and Archduke of Austria, the Heaven-sent Bohemian King’s Crown …)
Augsburg: David Mehrer, c. 1741.
Engraved broadside, 400 × 320 mm, the upper half a finely detailed copperplate engraving signed “Gottfrid Pfhauntz Sc.” depicting a bust of Carolus Albertus (Charles VII, Elector of Bavaria) crowned by angels and four allegorical female figures representing Bavaria, Austria, Bohemia, and Augsburg, each with civic shields; trophies of war and banners below; the lower half with celebratory verse in two columns. Small closed tear to upper right margin and faint toning along old folds, otherwise a crisp, well-preserved near fine impression.
An elaborate Augsburg broadside celebrating the accession of Charles Albert of Bavaria (later Emperor Charles VII), following his temporary conquest of Bohemia in the opening phase of the War of the Austrian Succession. In December 1741, with French military backing, Charles entered Prague and was crowned King of Bohemia—an event that briefly broke the Habsburg monopoly on the imperial crown and prompted an outpouring of patriotic and triumphal verse in Bavaria. The triumph proved fleeting—Maria Theresa’s forces soon drove him back to Bavaria.
David Mehrer, active in Augsburg from the late 1730s, specialised in engraved broadsides commemorating coronations, victories and local festivities—ephemeral works printed for public display but engraved with remarkable care. Gottfried Pfhauntz is otherwise known as a draughtsman and engraver of devotional and civic scenes for Augsburg publishers such as Kilian and Engelbrecht.
The sheet is undated but contextually attributable to c. 1741, the year of Charles Albert’s short lived Bohemian coronation.