15 - FASHION AT THE COURT OF FRANCE DURING THE REIGN OF LOUIS XIV

FASHION AT THE COURT OF FRANCE DURING THE REIGN OF LOUIS XIV DIEU DE SAINT-JEAN, Jean. [Mode de France. Paris, 1678–1696]; folio (390 x 325 mm) with 71 plates mounted on tabs, contemporary red morocco binding, gilt fillets framing the covers, decorated raised spine, gilt inner edge, gilt edges, modern slipcase. EXTREMELY RARE AND SPLENDID COLLECTION OF FASHIONS AT THE COURT OF FRANCE DURING THE REIGN OF LOUIS XIV: 71 PLATES OF COSTUMES, INCLUDING THREE DOUBLE PLATES. THEY ARE ALL HAND-COLORED AND SOME ARE EMBELLISHED WITH GOLD OR SILVER. These beautiful engravings depict the royal family (Louis XIV, the Queen, the Dauphin and the Dauphine, Monsieur and Madame), a large number of men and women “of high rank,” a Knight of Malta, a peasant man and a peasant woman from the Paris region, and a couple dressed “incognito” to cross the city. The plates were engraved by Nicolas Bazin, Franz Ertinger, Galand, and Scotin after designs by Jean Dieu de Saint-Jean, an artist who remains famous for these costume plates. He is said to have produced about a hundred of them; the Print Room holds 72. Jean Dieu is believed to have been born around 1654, admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1671—at only seventeen years of age—and died in 1695. “If we are to believe the *Mercure galant*, the invention of a new genre of fashion engraving thus belongs to Jean Dieu de Saint-Jean, with a series of prints published a year or two before March 1678, that is to say, well before the series of small engravings executed after Jean Berain—the chief organizer of royal festivals and spectacles, master of sets and costumes—by the witty engraver Jean Lepautre, with which the history of fashion engraving in France is generally considered to have truly begun ” (Maxime Préaud). He was, in fact, one of the first to depersonalize the model by referring to them as “Man of Quality” or “Woman of Quality,” whereas his predecessors had, for example, portrayed the Princess of Conti in ball attire… Saint-Jean’s plates are often grouped with those of Bonnart, known as Colas, although Bonnard tended to produce portraits in costume. “A year or two ago, some by the same author appeared, which were found to be admirable […] and it is clear that this can only come from a gallant man who knows fashion. Thus, we can be certain that Mr. de Saint-Jean, who is the author, knows it perfectly” (Mercure Galant, March 1678) COLORED COPY, THE ONLY KNOWN ONE. It is possible that the artist’s wife, after his death, gathered his fashion engravings to sell them as a collection. The address on the last two plates, dated 1695 and 1696 respectively, reads “at the widow St. Jean’s.” Catherine Danin also appears to have played a role in coloring the plates, if we are to believe a few proofs preserved at the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal: on three of them, following the title, there is a handwritten inscription that reads “illuminated by St. Jean’s wife .” A black, calfskin-bound copy is preserved at Princeton University. It contains 74 plates, three more than our collection. According to the ink numbering, plates nos. 2, 56, and 62 are missing. Some plates are dated over a fairly long period (1678–1696), while others have no date indicated. An exceptional copy, hand-colored and bound in red morocco leather at the time of publication. Very minor restorations to the binding; minimal worm damage. A few repaired tears on the plates. Colas, *Bibliographie générale du costume et de la mode*, no. 2629. Maxime Préaud, “Femme de qualité en steinkerque et falbala,” *Revue de la BnF*, 2013, no. 43, pp. 64–73.