Sir Launfal's Dream: Seated Knight with a Lance and Shield

Sir Launfal's Dream
Seated Knight with Lance
Stamped and Tinted Brass
Japanned Back
NBS Small, 5/8"
c1880s

Sir Launfal's Dream - Back

When I purchased this button, the dealer described it as Sir Renfel's Dream. I've since learned the button is correctly known as Sir Launfal's Dream after a collection of poems and a specific poem by James Russell Lowell titled The Vision of Sir Launfal, written by Lowell in 1848.

The Internet Archive describes it as "a narrative poem about a proud medieval knight who spends his life seeking abroad for the Holy Grail in vain, only to find it at home when he humbly gives a crust of bread and cup of water to a leper." The Archive contains several editions of the poetry collection, with differing introductions about Lowell and his work.

This is an NBS small, two part picture button, made of stamped and tinted brass. The name of the button, alone, is intriguing, but the image of the dreaming knight, seated before the castle walls, fully armored right down to his spurs, his shield emblazoned with a star and a moon, clutching his lance in the crook of his arm, makes me glad I found his story. This button's detail is not sharp, but the image is evocative.

You can read the text of the poem and see engraved illustrations from an early edition by clicking on this link: The Vision of Sir Launfal.

Here's a wonderful excerpt from the text of the poem, which is a great companion to the design of the button:

"My golden spurs now bring to me,
And bring to me my richest mail,
For to-morrow I go over land and sea
In search of the Holy Grail;
Shall never a bed for me be spread,
Nor shall a pillow be under my head,
Till I begin my vow to keep;
Here on the rushes will I sleep,
And perchance there may come a vision true
Ere day create the world anew."
Slowly Sir Launfal's eyes grew dim,
Slumber fell like a cloud on him,
And into his soul the vision flew.

Image and Text © 2010 Once Upon A Button

Trumpeter of Sakingen - High Relief

Trumpeter of Sakingen

Brass and Tinted White Metal

Circa 1880s

NBS Large

Trumpeter of Sakingen

Japanned Back

This Trumpeter of Sakingen picture button is atypical. See the Trumpeter of Sakingen below for another rare example, and for a link to the trumpeter's story. The front of this Trumpeter of Sakingen is a brass escutcheon mounted on a tinted white metal background. With his high boots and dashing plumed hat, Werner, the trumpeter, plays for the lovely Margaretha, and calls her to the window.

Image and Text © 2009 Anne AKA Once Upon A Button

Trumpeter of Sakingen

Trumpeter of Sakingen

Stamped and Pierced Brass

Cut-Outs, Shiny Steel Liner

c1880s

NBS Large

Trumpeter of Sakingen

Japanned Back

The Trumpeter of Sakingen is a common button design, but this version is not a common button. Note the cut-outs for the half moon, the city windows, and the waters of the Rhine River. It is a three part stamped, tinted, and pierced brass button, with a shiny metal liner, a japanned back, and a silver rim. I paid about six dollars, but I've seen the same button priced at fifty dollars. There is a cut-out for a full moon in an even rarer version.

This button is another great example of the link between art, design, and popular culture. You can read the detailed story of The Trumpeter of Sakingen within the text of the Legends of the Rhine by H. A. Geurber (New York: A. S. Barnes & Co, c1895) found at the Internet Archive. Section 316 through 321 is Guerber's summary of the original poem, The Trumpeter of Sakingen by Scheffel. The story was made into an opera by Nessler, which is probably the reason for this button design's wide popularity.

Image and Text © 2009 Anne AKA Once Upon A Button

Immo and Hildegard: Story Button

Immo and Hildegard

Story Button

Stamped and Pierced

Tinted Brass

Shiny Metal Liner

NBS Medium, 1 3/16"

c1890s

Immo and Hildegard - Japanned Back



~ Immo and Hildegard ~

from Gustav Freytag's The Wren's Nest

Printed in the book

Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham, 1810-1897

Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama.

A Revised American Edition

of the Readers' Handbook Volume II (1892)

Immo and Hildegard

Artist - H. Kaulbach

Printed in the book

Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham, 1810-1897

Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama.

A revised American Edition

of the Readers' Handbook Volume II (1892)

There is a beautiful story to go with this button. The button is known as Immo and Hildegard, or, the Lover's Meeting. It is a stamped and pierced brass button, mounted over a shiny metal liner, with a japanned back. At 1 3/16", it is 1/16" shy of being an NBS Large. The streaks in the silver liner are an artifact of the photograph, and do not appear on the actual button. If you click on the image above, you can read about Immo and Hildegard. The full text is available from the The University of Wisconsin's Digital Collections, as printed in Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, circa 1892. The entry starts on Page 204 and continues on Page 205, with the print and a frontispiece sandwiched between them.

Freytag's story of Immo and Hildegard, and H. Kaulbach's image are in the public domain. I wonder if H. Kaulbach had anything to do with the design of this button, since it is clearly patterned after the woodcut illustrating Freytag's story. I also haven't been able to determine how long a work the original volume, The Wren's Nest, might be, because what is printed in Character Sketches is flowery and romantic, but brief. Freytag, a controversial German novelist and playwright, lived from 1816-1895. Kaulbach is probably Hermann Kaulbauch (1846-1909), a German artist best known for his portraits of children.

Image and Text © 2009 Anne AKA Once Upon A Button