97 frantzeska papadopoulou skarp esting in this respect is that while these regulations applied to any commercial activity in the city they had no enforceability in the case of free arts (Frei Künste), under which Dürer’s enterprise would most probably classify. It seems thus that Dürer was able to determine the prices of his prints and decide his own quality standards. Despite of that, being part of a well-regulated market put pressure also on business segments that were not specifically targeted by the regulations. One of the most important and strictly enforced regulation was that concerning labelling and product marking. One of the tasks of the Council was to hire “tag masters” that would provide certifying labels to different products. Dürer was initially trained in the world of goldsmiths in which labelling was of central importance. Goldsmiths were required to place their stamp on all the goods they manufactured. Every goldsmith had his own mark, while at the same time, products of the unqualified workers could only be marked with a punch mark. Goods with a Nuremberg provenance were marked with an “N”. Even this labelling was very often abused by merchants of other cities. Misrepresentation and fraud in commercial transactions was in Dürer’s time a very serious crime. Strauss writes about the story of a baker that had lied about the weight of his bread. He was placed in a basket hanging by a rope over a pit filled with “stinking filth”. The only way for the baker to free himself was to cut the rope and hope into the horrid mess of slops and crawl his way out in front of the public.45 The strict regulation of commercial transactions as well as the guarantee that Nuremberg products were properly labelled and of guaranteed quality and quantity in combination with the fact that it was located at the centre of twelve important commercial routes contributed to Nuremberg’s international outreach. Nuremberg products reached the markets throughout Europe, while visitors from the whole Europe came to Nuremberg to participate in the triannual fairs.46 43 Koerner, 1993, pp. 210–220. Aschroft, Jeffrey, Albrecht Dürer: Documentary Biography[2volumes]: Dürer’s personal and aesthetic writings; words on pictures; family, legal and business documents; the artist in the writings of contemporaries, 2017, p. 139. 44 Pon, Lisa, Raphael, Dürer and Marcantonio Raimondi: Copying and the Italian Renaissance Print, 2004, pp. 39–47. 45 Karol, Peter, ‘Albrecht Dürer’s Enforcement Actions: ATrademark Origin Story’, 25Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law, 2023 pp. 442–456. 46 Strauss, Gerald, Nuremberg in the sixteenth century: City politics and life between Middle Ages and modern times, Indiana University Press, 1976.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=