Jean PETITOT, engravings by Luigi CERONI
Jean Petitot Enamels 1607-1691
[Manuscript title in English black letter on title page; Paris, n.d. but 1862-1864]
Quarto, 12-1/4 x 8-3/8 in. (312 x 213 mm). 68 ff., collating 18 blanks, frontispiece with portrait of Petitot, manuscript title with portrait of Mlle Dupre, and 48 additional portrait ff. on stiff card with tissue guards. Full red morocco extra binding with scrolled borders, spine decorated in six compartments, full morocco doublures and watered silk endpapers, all edges gilt, by The French Binders (successors to the Club Bindery), with their stamp, in a full rose antique calf clamshell box.
50 engraved and hand-painted portraits, before all letters and without text, of personages from the era of Louis XIV after Jean Petitot, including Petitot, the King, Queen Christina and other European royalty, Cardinal Richilieu, Mme de Montespan and Colbert, on chine laid down on card, with the subject's identity in pencil at the bottom of each page. These portraits were issued in parts with biographies and published as Les Émaux de Petitot du Musée impérial du Louvre: portraits de personnages historiques and de femmes célèbres du siècle de Louis XIV, gravés au burin par M. L. Ceroni (Paris: Blaisot, libraire-éditeur, Md d'estampes, 2 vols., 1862-1864). Georges Vicaire, Manuel de l'amateur de livres du XIXe siècle, 1801-1893 (Paris: Libraire A. Raouquette, 1897), vol. 3, pp. 570-1, states that a first printing of 100 sets of the engravings by Luigi Ceroni was made with artist's proofs on chine before letters and on "papier blanc" before letters (presumably far fewer of the 100 sets were on chine than on ordinary paper).
Petitot, leading miniaturist of the day and peintre en émail de Roi, was also a favorite of the Stuart Court in England. The exquisite hand-painting of these miniature oval engravings (various sizes up to 64 mm in height) captures fabric, jewelry and background detail with particular delicacy.
No other copy of the hand-painted artist's proofs has been located. The Fleming copy, sold Christie's, November 18, 1988 (lot 275), comprising the two printed volumes extended to five with proof states of the engravings, is the only copy with proof states to appear in recent public auction databases.
Price: $4,500
Inquiries: mail@mobysnewt.com
Jean Petitot Enamels 1607-1691
[Manuscript title in English black letter on title page; Paris, n.d. but 1862-1864]
Quarto, 12-1/4 x 8-3/8 in. (312 x 213 mm). 68 ff., collating 18 blanks, frontispiece with portrait of Petitot, manuscript title with portrait of Mlle Dupre, and 48 additional portrait ff. on stiff card with tissue guards. Full red morocco extra binding with scrolled borders, spine decorated in six compartments, full morocco doublures and watered silk endpapers, all edges gilt, by The French Binders (successors to the Club Bindery), with their stamp, in a full rose antique calf clamshell box.
50 engraved and hand-painted portraits, before all letters and without text, of personages from the era of Louis XIV after Jean Petitot, including Petitot, the King, Queen Christina and other European royalty, Cardinal Richilieu, Mme de Montespan and Colbert, on chine laid down on card, with the subject's identity in pencil at the bottom of each page. These portraits were issued in parts with biographies and published as Les Émaux de Petitot du Musée impérial du Louvre: portraits de personnages historiques and de femmes célèbres du siècle de Louis XIV, gravés au burin par M. L. Ceroni (Paris: Blaisot, libraire-éditeur, Md d'estampes, 2 vols., 1862-1864). Georges Vicaire, Manuel de l'amateur de livres du XIXe siècle, 1801-1893 (Paris: Libraire A. Raouquette, 1897), vol. 3, pp. 570-1, states that a first printing of 100 sets of the engravings by Luigi Ceroni was made with artist's proofs on chine before letters and on "papier blanc" before letters (presumably far fewer of the 100 sets were on chine than on ordinary paper).
Petitot, leading miniaturist of the day and peintre en émail de Roi, was also a favorite of the Stuart Court in England. The exquisite hand-painting of these miniature oval engravings (various sizes up to 64 mm in height) captures fabric, jewelry and background detail with particular delicacy.
No other copy of the hand-painted artist's proofs has been located. The Fleming copy, sold Christie's, November 18, 1988 (lot 275), comprising the two printed volumes extended to five with proof states of the engravings, is the only copy with proof states to appear in recent public auction databases.
Price: $4,500
Inquiries: mail@mobysnewt.com