Love on the second glimpse

[Dmitry]

I wonder why the text is split like it is. And what do you think is depicted under the stag? It appears to be a man-made structure.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Dmitry

... I wonder why the text is split like it is...

Maybe the engraver copied the inscription from another implement, split in context, and did not know Latin enough to recompose it.

Originally Posted by Dmitry

... And what do you think is depicted under the stag? It appears to be a man-made structure.

Actaeon himself ?


.

[Raf]

I think Dmitry means the architectural looking structure below the image of the stag scratching his ear. Fences for shooting driven game ?

[Dmitry]

I was considering the same thing as suggested by Fernando - the text is split in two columns of approximately equal size, as it would be in the following, or similar scenarios: On the sides of a blade with a wide fuller; On the sides of a blade with rhomboid-cross section; On the sides of a hexagonal, or similar, gun barrel.

Raf is right. This is what I'm wondering about.

[Raf]

Deer hunting with nets.

[Dmitry]

Raf, I agree with your sentiments; this is something hunting-related, perhaps a ditch with stakes...

[Raf]

From the Complete German Hunter 1724. A small shooting party firing from cover.
Even Von Fleming, the author was outraged by the slaughter. One wonders whether this flask might have been presented as a prize or momento of such an event. Hence the classical allusion to Actaeon the victorious hunter.