Accession number
PML 15526-33
Published
[France], [approximately 1690-1760]
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1907.
Notes
Below each image is a four-line verse and the imprint.
Fashion prints showing the likenesses of well-known figures in the court of Louis XIV, known to us today through the memoirs of people such as the Duc de Saint-Simon, for the anonymous "men and women of quality."
The bulk of the prints were published by the engraver Antoine Trouvain (1656-1708).
Some of the prints were made ca. 1690-1710 and "dressed" some 40 or 50 years later. The French term for the process is "decoupé," literally "cut-out." Portions of the print were cut out and faced from the reverse side with fabric corresponding to parts of the costume. What remained of the print was skillfully tinted with watercolor.
The plates are matted back-to-back and thus identified as either "a" or "b".
Fashion prints showing the likenesses of well-known figures in the court of Louis XIV, known to us today through the memoirs of people such as the Duc de Saint-Simon, for the anonymous "men and women of quality."
The bulk of the prints were published by the engraver Antoine Trouvain (1656-1708).
Some of the prints were made ca. 1690-1710 and "dressed" some 40 or 50 years later. The French term for the process is "decoupé," literally "cut-out." Portions of the print were cut out and faced from the reverse side with fabric corresponding to parts of the costume. What remained of the print was skillfully tinted with watercolor.
The plates are matted back-to-back and thus identified as either "a" or "b".
Description
8 v. : some b&w, some hand colored ; (fol.)
Provenance
Some of the engravings were at one time in the collection of the late 18th-century historian and collector, Jean-Louis Soulavie. His mark (the initials JS within a circle) may be seen on the lower right of some prints; from the collection of Pierpont Morgan.
Binding
Housed in beige archival boxes.
Classification
Catalog link
Department