19.00 USD
Beautifully hand-colored postcard depicting the goddess Astarté, the Greek version of the ancient Babylonian goddess of love and war, Ishtar. Our goddess is so cute and approachable in this depiction! Still, we would approach the deity with a respectful demeanor.
Photo by Monsieur Aryalew of Paris. Some years ago, a helpful customer suggested that Aryalew might have been an anagram (ish) of Walery, the name of a very well known Parisian photographer at that time. Walery was known for doing this, but we've found no evidence of it in this case, though an interesting idea.
The style of coloration and the finish on this one reminds us very much of Monsieur Piprot's work at Etoile publishers, Paris. This card was published though by Croissant, another Parisian publisher whose cards are sometimes almost as decorative on the obverse as on the image side. Wonderful Art Nouveau decoration. Fitting too, that Croissant was the publisher, since Ishtar was sometimes depicted as wearing a tiara of the crescent moon! This entire card is like a lovely slice of cake, or a jewel! Okay it's a postcard, but we love it :)
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
The item you are considering for purchase is, unless otherwise noted, a vintage postcard of approximately 5 and 1/2, by 3 and 1/2 inches. Postage is for fully-insured, first class shipping in a secure photo mailer (to avoid any damage to your purchase in the mails), and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will not charge for postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more. We do not charge for shipping materials, and as of the date of this listing are still charging below our overall cost on shipping.