EXTREMELY RARE HAND-COLOURED COPY OF LA FONTAINE'S FABLES ILLUSTRATED BY OUDRY. LA FONTAINE, J. de. Fables choisies, mises en verse. I-IV. Paris (chez Desaint & Saillant - Durand, de l'imprimerie de Charles-Antoine-Jombert) 1755-59. Folio (427x286 mm). 1 hand-coloured engraved frontispiece portrait nicolas-cochin-the-elder" title="Charles-Nicolas Cochin the elder">Charles-Nicolas Cochin after Jean-Baptiste Oudry - Dupuis, 4 titles with hand-coloured woodengraved vignettes, many hand-coloured woodengraved vignettes in the text, 275 finely hand-coloured engraved plates Aubert, Aveline, Bacquoy, Beauvois, Cochin and others after Oudry (all, partly some occasional spotting and some offsetting). Edition on paper Hollande. Second state with the word "Le leopard" written on the banner. Contemporary French red morocco, slightly worn and rubbed, 2 inner joints split, some corners bumped, boards with gilt bordure, gilt inner dentelles, richly gilt spines in compartments, spines faded and partly with damages to edges. 4 volumes. Photo. Sander 1065. Cohen-Ricci 548-50. Second issue. Collation: 1 frontispiece portrait, (4), (i)-xxx, xviii, (1)-124 pp., 70 plates; (4), ii, (1)-135, (1 blank) pp., 68 plates; (4), iv, 146 pp., 68 plates; (4), ii, 188 pp., 69 plates. Jean-Baptist Oudry (1685-1755), French painter, elected in the Royal Academy in 1719, he began his sketches based upon the fables of La Fontaine in 1729 as he became the director of the Beauvais tapestry factory, and made a total of 276 sketches before finishing in 1734. "One of the most ambitious and successful of all illustrated books" (Ray, The art of the French illustrated book, 5). Copies with fine hand-coloured plates are extremely rare. There have only been a few royal copies on the market the last 40 years that have been hand-coloured, which indicates that this copy could have belonged to a member of the royal family or a highly distinguished person at the court. The latest auction record we could find, was in 2011, as an handcoloured but incomplete copy was sold with provenance of Louis XV.
EXTREMELY RARE HAND-COLOURED COPY OF LA FONTAINE'S FABLES ILLUSTRATED BY OUDRY. LA FONTAINE, J. de. Fables choisies, mises en verse. I-IV. Paris (chez Desaint & Saillant - Durand, de l'imprimerie de Charles-Antoine-Jombert) 1755-59. Folio (427x286 mm). 1 hand-coloured engraved frontispiece portrait nicolas-cochin-the-elder" title="Charles-Nicolas Cochin the elder">Charles-Nicolas Cochin after Jean-Baptiste Oudry - Dupuis, 4 titles with hand-coloured woodengraved vignettes, many hand-coloured woodengraved vignettes in the text, 275 finely hand-coloured engraved plates Aubert, Aveline, Bacquoy, Beauvois, Cochin and others after Oudry (all, partly some occasional spotting and some offsetting). Edition on paper Hollande. Second state with the word "Le leopard" written on the banner. Contemporary French red morocco, slightly worn and rubbed, 2 inner joints split, some corners bumped, boards with gilt bordure, gilt inner dentelles, richly gilt spines in compartments, spines faded and partly with damages to edges. 4 volumes. Photo. Sander 1065. Cohen-Ricci 548-50. Second issue. Collation: 1 frontispiece portrait, (4), (i)-xxx, xviii, (1)-124 pp., 70 plates; (4), ii, (1)-135, (1 blank) pp., 68 plates; (4), iv, 146 pp., 68 plates; (4), ii, 188 pp., 69 plates. Jean-Baptist Oudry (1685-1755), French painter, elected in the Royal Academy in 1719, he began his sketches based upon the fables of La Fontaine in 1729 as he became the director of the Beauvais tapestry factory, and made a total of 276 sketches before finishing in 1734. "One of the most ambitious and successful of all illustrated books" (Ray, The art of the French illustrated book, 5). Copies with fine hand-coloured plates are extremely rare. There have only been a few royal copies on the market the last 40 years that have been hand-coloured, which indicates that this copy could have belonged to a member of the royal family or a highly distinguished person at the court. The latest auction record we could find, was in 2011, as an handcoloured but incomplete copy was sold with provenance of Louis XV.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
