Is this impression New Hollstein 170, state III?

State is the field that locates a sheet in the life of a plate. For this plate it does more than that: the catalogue is explicit that the work visible in the third state is not Rembrandt's. So the state determination decides whether this impression is a document of Rembrandt's workshop or of the plate's afterlife under other hands.

The catalogue entry is in hand and all four state descriptions are published on the state atlas. The auction cataloguer determined state III, citing two features: no signature, and a diagonal scratch in the plate at upper left only slightly visible. On closer reading the first of those does not discriminate — the catalogue's reproduction of state II does not show the signature clearly either, so an absent signature narrows the sheet to state II or III and no further. The determination therefore rests on the scratch and on the cataloguer's reading of the line-work. No specialist in Old Master prints has examined the sheet. Added 12 August 2026. A state III impression is now available for direct comparison for the first time: RISD Museum 84.198.1269, which that museum catalogues as "New Hollstein no. 170.iii" and "STATE: iii/iv", and publishes under CC0. Two things follow. First, RISD records its state III as "Lettered UL: 'Rembrandt'" — so the plate still carries lettering at this state, and in RISD's own reproduction that lettering is faint. An impression of state III described as showing no signature is therefore unremarkable, and the phrase in the auction catalogue does not push this sheet away from state III any more than it pushes it towards state II. Second, the four diagnostic features the catalogue uses to define state III can now be checked against a published image of a securely catalogued state III rather than against a catalogue reproduction alone. RISD's derivative is only 900 pixels tall, which is not enough for the finer of those features, but it is enough for the cross-hatching at the base of the feather and along the brim.

• 3Institutional recordNew Hollstein Dutch & Flemish, Rembrandt, no. 170, pp. 31–32 and plates 84–87 · Erik Hinterding and Jaco Rutgers · 2013on request
• 5Auction catalogueBonhams, Fine Books and Manuscripts, sale 28358, lot 182, New York, 24 April – 4 May 2023 · Bonhams & Butterfields Auctioneers Corp. · 2023-05
• 5Auction catalogueCondition-report photographs of the sheet, recto and verso, supplied by the auction house · Bonhams · 2023-05-03on request
• 2Primary documentBonhams, reply to an enquiry about lot 182 — nothing further can be shared · Bonhams, Books and Manuscripts department · 2026-08-13on request

• The sheet is New Hollstein 170, state III — a posthumous rework of the plate.

  Possible

  The auction cataloguer's determination. Lowered from probable on 12 August 2026 when one of its two stated grounds turned out not to discriminate between states II and III. Unchanged on 12 August 2026 by the RISD evidence: that evidence removes an argument against state III without supplying one for it.

• The sheet is New Hollstein 170, state II — the plate as Rembrandt left it.

  Possible

  State II is by far the most numerous state, it is the only state White & Boon recognised, and it is equally consistent with an impression showing no legible signature. It has not been excluded.

1. 01Compare the sheet against the catalogue's diagnostic features for states II and III, feature by feature, recording each as present, absent or indeterminate.
2. 02Compare against the catalogue's reproductions of 170/II and 170/III.
3. 03Where a feature is indeterminate on the existing photographs, re-photograph that passage under raking light and magnification.
4. 04Check the four diagnostic features against RISD 84.198.1269, the only openly licensed image of a securely catalogued state III, before comparing against the catalogue reproduction.

A specialist comparing the sheet against the four features the catalogue uses to define state III: cross-hatching added at the base of the feather and along the brim of the cap above the eyes; the curved lines on the forehead extended over the brim; strong horizontal shading on the right ear; short diagonal lines in front of the left ear and on the beard at the right of the chin. Each is present or it is not, and the answer does not depend on anybody's opinion of the sheet.

• Bonhams was asked on 13 August 2026 for a view on the state, formal or informal. The department replied that it has nothing further it can share. The 2023 catalogue entry therefore remains the whole of the auction house's stated position, and no one has added to it.

  2026-08-13

• British Museum collection online ↗
• Rijksmuseum collection ↗
• Impression census, filterable by state
• RISD Museum 84.198.1269 — state iii/iv, CC0 ↗

• RQ-01Does this impression carry the signature “Rembrandt f. 1638”?
• RQ-06Was this impression printed during Rembrandt's lifetime, or later?
• RQ-09Does any drypoint burr survive in this impression, and what does the plate wear indicate?