Account book for Stephanus Krumrein, Johannes Ernst Spangenberg (?-1814) Northhampton County, Pennsylvania, circa 1790

Watercolor and ink on paper, with leather binding with watercolor decoration

Inscribed (translated from German) on title page, ink: Debit and Credit/Book for / Stephanus Krumrein

Christie's New York, June 18, 1998, lot 90

"Compass: Folk Art in Four Directions," New York, The South Street Seaport Museum, June 20-October 7, 2012

American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 201, fig. 169

Some wrinkles, small amount of strain, wear around edges of pages; appropriate to age and use.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Music played an extensive role in Pennsylvania German life. An outgrowth of the Protestant Reformation, hymns were an imposing part of worship and funeral services. Folk songs were popular in taverns and were sometimes accompanied by what Pennsylvania Germans called a Zitter, or dulcimer. Organs were so highly esteemed that any church that owned one was dubbed an “organ church,” and for special ecclesiastical occasions musicians with an assortment of instruments would accompany occasional music in worship.
Johannes Ernst Spangenberg, who taught at the church school in Easton, memorialized this custom by depicting violinists, trumpeters, and hornists, as seen in this birth and baptismal certificate for Martin Andres. Other human figures in his work remind us that baptisms were occasions for family gatherings at which wine and cake were served. Spangenberg was bilingual, and he made pieces for children born in the eastern Lehigh Valley and even across the Delaware River in New Jersey, in a region settled by Moravians, who also placed a high value on music.¹ Spangenberg also made bookplates for Bibles and account books. The account book for Stephanus Krumrein contains the text of a church anthem sung at a church dedication in 1790, an assortment of recipes, formulas for veterinary cures, and a variety of business accounts over which a subsequent owner pasted clippings. Spangenberg also decorated the book’s cover. –F.S.W

¹ The only other work by Spangenberg known to be inscribed in English, aside from wills, is a birth and baptismal certificate for Martin Andres’s older sister, Anne, in the collection of NGA; see Monroe H. Fabian, “The Easton Bible Artist Identified,” Pennsylvania Folklife 22, no. 2 (winter 1972/73): 5. A separate document for Anne inscribed in German is illustrated in John Joseph Stoudt, Pennsylvania German Folk Art (Allentown, Pa.: Schlechter’s 1966), p. 223.