84 Bernard de Montfaucon (1655–1741) – Mensis November – Allegorical Copperplate Engraving from L’Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures (Paris, 1722–1724)

This original copperplate engraving titled Mensis November presents an allegorical personification of the month of November, part of a rare iconographic cycle reconstructed by Bernard de Montfaucon from an antique manuscript once held in the Imperial Library of Vienna. The central figure stands draped in a Roman toga, holding a symbolic staff and a circular object interpreted as a solar or calendrical emblem, while beside him lie a goose and the bust of a donkey — symbols associated with rustic deities and seasonal rites. Below the image appears a Latin tetrastichon (four-line epigram) by the Roman poet Ausonius, evoking agrarian and religious themes tied to the month. This print comes from Montfaucon’s monumental archaeological publication L’Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures, printed in Paris between 1722 and 1724.