Androuet du Cerceau, Jacques
Paris (?) circa 1511 – 1585/1586 Paris or Montargis

Designs for furnishing, including cupboards and sideboards, tables, chairs, beds, pedestals for busts, caryatid and terminal figures, doorways, and a chimneypiece, cartouches and fleurons, seventy-three etchings altogether.

[Orléans? and Paris, circa 1545–1565]

folio (320 × 220 mm), 66 leaves (numbered by hand 1–67, with folio 44 numbered on recto 44 and on verso 45), presenting seventy-three etchings by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau.

collation forty-four prints are imposed in pairs on whole sheets of paper, gathered in quires, and bound in on their own paper; one print (cancellans [g]4) mounted by binder on the stub of the cancel­landum; eighteen prints mounted by binder in two quires of album leaves placed at the end ([i] and [k]); ten prints (on nine individual leaves, here designated π1–π2,¹X1–⁷X1) interpolated by binder according to their subject: [a]⁸ [b]⁶ [c]⁶ [d]⁴ (+π² after [d]2; Χ1, ²X1, ³X1 after [d]3) [e]⁶ [f]⁶ (+⁴X1, ⁵X1, ⁶X1 after [f]6) [g]⁴ (–[g]4, cancelled and⁷X1 substituted) [h]⁶ [i]⁶ [k]⁶.

paper the principal watermark is a crescent above a banner lettered j perret (30 × 40 mm; Briquet no. 5306),¹ appearing in folios [a]1, [a]3, [a]4, [a]7, [b]4, [b]5, [b]6, [c]2, [c]3, [c]6, [d]2, [d]4, [e]1, [e]3, [e]5, [f]1, [f]4, [f]5, [g]1, [g]3, [h]1, [h]4, [h]5 (all whole sheets except [g]1); other watermarks observed: fragment of anchor? ([i]1 and [i]5), bunch of grapes (Χ1, binder’s guard), fragment of armo­rial (³X1), fragment of armorial with three fleur-de-lis and crown with shell border (⁴X1, album leaf), fragment of same armorial? (⁵X1, album leaf), post horn (⁶X1, album leaf); no watermark observed in conjugate folios [i]2/[i]5, [k]1/[k]6, [k]2/[k]5, [k]3/[k]6, π1/π2 or interpolated leaves ²X1, ⁷X1.

provenance early pencil inscriptions and drawings in the margins of folios 11, 22, 23, 24, 50, 51 recto — early ink inscription 5- in upper corner of the first free-endpaper (presumably a price) — prints numbered 1–67 (and 67 Plates inscribed on the front pastedown in another hand) — Earls of Macclesfield, armorial exlibris on pastedown South Library dated 1860 (shelfmark added in ink 179. I. 15), and family armorial blindstamp in top margins of the first three folios — sale by Sotheby’s, ‘The Library of the Earls of Macclesfield, removed from Shirburn Castle, Part Three’, London, 4 November 2004, lot 646

condition short tears in folios 15, 27, 42 (all but one closed by the binder); prints on folios 27, 28, 42, 43, 44, 56, 58, 59, 61 trimmed along or within platemark before binding, then attached to binder’s guards or window-mounted; some light paper discolouration, otherwise in superb state of preservation.

binding contemporary French calf drawn over pasteboards; covers framed by a single gilt and two blind rules, oval gilt centre-piece on both covers, the spine divided into seven compartments by six raised bands and lettered Diver Dess (Divers Desseins) directly on the leather in the second compart­ment), the other compartments decorated by a small, gilt flower ornament; page edges stained blue.

An extraordinary album of etched furniture designs by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, containing most of his known prints of this type, together with one unre­corded print, gathered and bound circa 1580. Until recently the album reposed in the exten­sive library formed in the 17th and 18th centuries by the Earls of Macclesfield at Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire, unknown and unrecorded. Its recovery brings vital evidence to the study of the states and issue dates of Du Cerceau’s prints for furniture.²

Image

The prints include models for storage furniture of various types (known in France as buffets and dressoirs), built up architecturally, like temples, in two or more stages; for tables of various sizes, some with sliding tops, all supported on solid carved trestles in the ancient Roman style; for benches and chests; for beds, with and without canopies, supported on carved animals or motifs taken from animals (or monsters) instead of legs; for a choir chair; framed panels of ornament; terms and sphinxes. The designs are richly ornamented with columns, capitals, entablatures, and other architectural elements, often without structural significance; with these Du Cerceau combined decorative elements, including vases, garlands, caryatids, masks, and trophies. The complexity of some models – a dormer window in the form of a triumphal arch, surmounted by an image of Laocoön and his sons (print on folio 23);³ a bed which rests on a writhing snake at one end and on an elephant’s foot at the other (folio 38) – suggests that Du Cerceau did not intend them to be executed as shown, but to serve as repertories of ideas, sources of inspiration for objects of all kinds by craftsman of all types: painters, embroiderers, gold and silversmiths, tapestry makers, and bookbinders among them.⁴

The designer’s intentions evidently were well-understood by craftsmen, as no piece of fur­niture built according to one of Du Cerceau’s designs is known. Elements of his designs can be detected in specific pieces.⁵ One of these is the famous table in the Withdrawing Chamber of Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, which indicates that Du Cerceau’s patterns were available to English joiners and cabinetmakers as early as the third quarter of the sixteenth century.⁶ From the early 1580s, Du Cerceau’s furniture designs were diffused by others, notably Hans Vredeman de Vries (Differents pourtraicts de menuiserie, reversed versions of sixteen of Du Cerceau’s prints, published circa 1583),⁷ Crispin ii de Passe (Shriner Laden, published 1621),⁸ and Paul Vredeman de Vries (Verscheyden Schrynwerck, pub­lished 1630),⁹ and thereafter it becomes difficult to identify precisely the design source utilised by the craftsman.

According to present knowledge, Du Cerceau never worked as a menuisier, and it is assumed that his interest in furniture was entirely as a designer. He produced the prints contained in our album over a period of perhaps twenty years (circa 1545–circa 1565), and sold them individually or in small series of uncertain contents, without titles or other text indicating the subjects of the prints or suggesting their organisation, such as he provided for his prints of temples and grotesques. Only a single print with furniture (a table, not present in our volume) identifies Du Cerceau as designer or etcher or publisher and carries a date (1550);¹⁰ all the others are anonymous and undated. It seems that some matrices were etched while Du Cerceau was still working in Orléans; the great majority, however, appear to have been made after he established himself in Paris (1550 or 1551), and to date from the early 1560s, before he took refuge in the Huguenot sanctuary at Montargis (1565). Although Du Cerceau routinely copied or adapted the designs of others, his models of furniture are not derived from known prints.¹¹

Image

Fig. 2 Prints [4] (left) and [5] (right), Cabinets et dressoirs
(189 × 139 and 191 × 142 mm, platemarks)

Image

Image

The lack of any internal arrangement of the furniture prints has been remedied by succes­sive students of Du Cerceau’s graphic œuvre, who have organised them into categories by type of furniture, and then ordered them by similarity. Hippolyte Destailleur and Henry de Geymüller¹² established a nucleus of forty-five prints which they categorise as follows

‘Cabinets et dressoirs’, twenty prints (displaying twenty-one subjects)
‘Tables’, eleven prints (displaying twenty-four subjects)
‘Chaise de chœur’, one print (displaying one subject)
‘Portes’, two prints (displaying two subjects)
‘Lits’, six plates (displaying eight subjects)
‘Deux gaines et un panneau orné de sculptures’, one plate (displaying three subjects)
‘Dessus de cheminée’, one plate (displaying one subject)
‘Termes vus de profil’, one plate (displaying three subjects)
‘Gaines ou scabellons’, two plates (displaying eight subjects)

Some additional etchings of furniture, most judged by Destailleur and Geymüller to be of earlier creation, complete the corpus: a design for a domestic table (the aforementioned print dated 1550), a chair, a bench, two beds, three chimney-pieces, four carved or sculp­tured retables, and a wainscot panel. Du Cerceau’s designs for mirror frames, chandeliers, reliquaries and other ecclesiastical furniture, are considered separately, as objets d’orfèvrerie.

Subsequent listings of Du Cerceau’s furniture prints, by Désiré Guilmard,¹³ Édouard Baldus,¹⁴ and Simon Jervis,¹⁵ have merely reformulated Destailleur-Geymüller’s work: the nucleus of forty-five prints is broadly retained, a few of Du Cerceau’s earlier furniture prints are withdrawn from the corpus, and given to anonymous masters, and a few other prints by him are introduced among the furniture designs according to personal notions of the genre. Peter Fuhring, author of a forthcoming catalogue raisonnée of Du Cerceau’s prints, has defined the corpus thus: ‘Quand on se limite au strict sujet du mobilier, on compte trente-neuf planches dans l’œuvre grave d’Androuet, mais si l’on y ajoute des sujets voisons, comme les sphinx, termes, panneaux, cadres et portails, on arrive largement à soixante planches’.¹⁶

The Macclesfield album contains all forty-five prints of the Destailleur-Geymüller nucleus. All but one of these etchings were imposed in pairs: two matrices were inked and wiped, then laid out and printed on a single sheet of paper in one pass through the press.¹⁷ Occa­sional offsetting (folio 5 onto 4, folio 11 onto 12, folio 17 onto 18) indicates that the matri­ces were struck at the same time (offsetting occurs when printed sheets that are not yet dry are laid over one another). Paper evidence suggests circa 1560–1570 as the probable date of printing;¹⁸ other evidence proves that some matrices already had experienced use.

A common feature of matrices produced in the Du Cerceau atelier is their swift deteriora­tion (through inexpert hammering, heavy use, or by mishandling), evidenced by the open­ing of cracks in the copper, steady diminution in size, ‘clipped’ corners, and so forth. The print on folio 3 of our album (conjugate with folio 6) retains its original corners, whereas the impression in the Musée du Louvre (Collection Edmond de Rothschild) is clipped, and thus representative of a subsequent issue.¹⁹ Since the print on folio 15 of our album (conju­gate with folio 20) shows a clipped corner, we surmise earlier usage of this matrice – and also of the other matrices producing the print series ‘Cabinets et dressoirs’.

The great majority of Du Cerceau’s prints for furniture are preserved in modern assem­blages (recueil factice); very few survive in contemporary bindings, and the rediscovered Macclesfield album is certain to be useful in the difficult work of giving order to the states and determining issue dates.

Image

Interpolated in the Macclesfield album among the prints issued in the 1560s are twenty-nine prints of earlier conception and date of printing (printed on twenty-two folios),²⁰ of which twenty are not models for furniture according to definitions of the genre favoured by Destailleur, Geymüller, et. al. Some of these twenty-nine prints were bound in the album on their own paper; the rest were mounted by the binder on stubs, or trimmed along the platemark and either inlaid in album sheets, or pasted onto them (once on a verso, folio 44). Several prints show a residue of glue on their versoes, evidence that they formerly were attached to supports, presumably leaves in a previous album.

Image

One of these early prints (folio 44) is presently known to Peter Fuhring only by the impres­sion in our Macclesfield album (see Fig. 6).²¹ It is a design for a high-backed chair, its back panel carved with grotesque ornament (after the models of Enea Vico, published 1541) and flanked by columns supporting a frieze, cornice and pediment. The hinged seat forms the lid of a storage coffer, the sides of which are carved with grotesque female terms.²² Another early print (folio 42) is a large bed ‘style Henri ii’; it is known to the writer only by a single impression once in the Fountaine and Foulc collections (and now unlocated) (see Fig. 5). Also rare, but surviving in multiple impressions, are the ‘Grand dressoir avec cariatides de femmes’ (folio 26) and ‘Grand meuble de cabinet à trois étages’ (folio 27).

Among the twenty associated prints is a closed suite of twelve ‘Fleurons’ (printed on six sheets, folios 62–67), apparently conceived and first printed by Du Cerceau at Orléans in the 1540s. Six prints (from the series of twenty) of ‘Grands Cartouches de Fontainebleau’ and the ‘Deux Lucarnes’ (imposed together, folios 23–24) are of similar date. The clipped corners of the matrices of two ‘Fleurons’ and of one ‘Lucarne’ betray previous usage of these matrices.

The binding evidently was made to safeguard these two groups of prints: one group newly struck, and bound in on their own paper (forty-four prints); the other group comprising prints published at earlier dates, probably obtained second-hand, and mounted in album leaves (twenty-nine prints). The covers of the binding are decorated by a blocked oval cen­tre-piece of interlacing strapwork (72 × 55 mm) of a type popular across northern Europe (including England) for at least thirty years.²³ The watermark in the binder’s endpapers, an armorial surmounted by a crown, with a banner below, cannot be identified; the style sug­gests a date of circa 1570.

Other impressions

Located

● Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kunstbibliothek²⁴

● Ecouen, Musée national de la Renaissance, Estampes, n° 2001–12 nos. 1–55²⁵

● Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg²⁶

● London, Victoria & Albert Museum, Print Room, 94.F.57 (E.5448–5492)²⁷

● New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926 (26.50.6)²⁸

● Paris, Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts²⁹

● Paris, Louvre, Collection Edmond de Rothschild, Inventaire L.65 L.R., f° 15³⁰

● Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ED–2 (F, 2) – Pet. Fol.³¹

● Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ED–2 (E, 2) – Pet. Fol.³²

● Vienna, Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Inv. 2273³³

● Vienna, Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Inv. 8075 Sd³⁴

Lost / Unidentified impressions

● Bearzi, Giovanni Battista³⁵

● Bérard, Eugène (1838–1890)³⁶

● Destailleur, Gabriel-Hippolyte Alexandre (1822–1893)³⁷

● Hubert, ‘Architecte’³⁸

● Monville (Montebello), Comte de³⁹

● Morgand, Librairie Damascene⁴⁰

● Piot, Eugene (1812–1891) — Guyot de Villeneuve, François Gustave Adolphe (1825–1898)⁴¹ — Lebeuf de Montgermont, Louis (1841?–1918)⁴²

● Vivenel, Antoine (1799–1862)⁴³

Bibliography

amsterdam catalogue
Rijksmuseum (Netherlands). Rijksprentenkabinet, Ornamentprenten in het Rijksprentenkabinet. i, 15de & 16de Eeuw, compiled by Marijnke De Jong and Irene De Groot (Amsterdam 1988)

baldus, Cartouches
Édouard Baldus, Œuvre de Jacques Androuet dit Du Cerceau... Sèrie de 33 cartouches. Héliogravure par Edouard Baldus (Paris circa 1884–1891)

baldus, Fleurons
Édouard Baldus, Œuvre de Jacques Androuet dit Du Cerceau... Fleurons. Héliogravure par Edouard Baldus (Paris circa 1884–1891)

baldus, Meubles
Édouard Baldus, Œuvre de Jacques Androuet dit Du Cerceau. Meubles. Héliogravure par Edouard Baldus (Paris circa 1884–1891)

berlin katalog
Staatliche Kunstbibliothek (Berlin, Germany), Katalog der Ornamentstich-Sammlung der Staatlichen Kunstbibliothek, Berlin (Berlin 1936–1939)

byrne 1973
Janet S. Byrne, ‘Jacopo della Nave or Jacques Androuet du Cerceau?’ in Metropolitan Museum Jour­nal 7 (1973), pp.143–149

byrne 1981
Janet S. Byrne, Renaissance ornament prints and drawings (New York 1981)

destailleur, Notices
Hippolyte Destailleur, Notices sur quelques artistes français, architectes, dessinateurs, graveurs du xvie au xviie siècle (Paris 1863)

destailleur, Receuil
Hippolyte Destailleur, Recueil d’estampes relatives à l’ornementation des appartements aux xvie, xviie et xviiie siècles (Paris 1863–1871)

destailleur sale
‘Livres et estampes relatifs aux beaux-arts (architecture, peinture, gravure, ornementation, etc.) provenant de la bibliothèque de feu M. Hippolyte Destailleur’, Paris, 20–31 May 1895

foulc sale
‘Catalogue d’une très importante collection de livres d’architecture, Recueils d’ornements’, Paris, 3–6 June 1914

fuhring 1994
The French Renaissance in prints from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, catalogue of an exhibi­tion held at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, Los Angeles, 1 November 1994–1 January 1995 (Los Angeles 1994), pp.370–371 no. 122 (entry by Peter Fuhring)

fuhring 2002
Peter Fuhring, ‘Jacques Androuet Du Cerceau et le mobilier de la Renaissance’ in Parures d’or et de pourpre. Le mobilier à la cour des Valois (Paris-Blois 2002), pp.40–51

fuhring 2010
Peter Fuhring, ‘L’œuvre gravé’ in Jacques Androuet du Cerceau: “un des plus grands architectes qui se soient jamais trouvés en France”, catalogue accompanying an exhibition at the Musée des monu­ments français, 10 February–9 May 2010 (Paris 2010)

fuhring 2016
Peter Furhring, ‘Furniture design in sixteenth-century France: Master Rb’s designs for cabinets’ in The Burlington Magazine 158 (October 2016), pp.784–792

geymüller
Henry de Geymüller, Les Du Cerceau; leur vie et leur œuvre (Paris 1887)

guilmard
Désiré Guilmard, Les maîtres ornemanistes, dessinateurs, peintres, architectes, sculpteurs et graveurs (Paris 1880–1881)

hamburg katalog
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (Hamburg, Germany), Katalog der Ornamentstich-Sammlung, com­piled by Ludwig Döry (Hamburg 1960)

jean-richard
Ornemanistes du xve au xviie siècle, catalogue of an exhibition held in the Musée du Louvre, 12 June–21 September 1987, compiled by Pierrette Jean-Richard (Paris 1988)

jervis
Simon Jervis, Printed furniture designs before 1650 (Leeds 1974)

la sirène
La Sirène, Ornements, Architecture [catalogue of prints sold at fixed prices] (Paris 1991)

le blanc
Charles Le Blanc, Manuel de l’amateur d’estampes (Paris 1854), volume i

linzeler
Bibliothèque nationale (France). Cabinet des estampes, Inventaire du Fonds Français: Graveurs du seizième siècle, compiled by André Linzeler (Paris 1932), volume i

vienna katalog 1889
K. K. Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie (Vienna), Illustrierter Katalog der Ornament­stichsammlung des K. K. Österreich. Museums für Kunst und Industrie: Erwerbungen seit dem Jahre 1871, compiled by Franz Ritter (Vienna 1889)

List of Prints / Furniture

‘Cabinets et dressoirs’ (twenty-one subjects on twenty plates, complete)
Album folios 1–11, 13–19, 21–22

references Le Blanc nos. 125–144; Destailleur, Recueil, p.14; Baldus, Meubles nos. 1–10, 18–19, 25–27, 40–43 (nineteen plates only); Geymüller p.319; Vienna Katalog 1889 p.150 (in a group of twenty–nine prints); Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 39; Linzeler p.63/a (erroneously categorised as twenty-three prints); Berlin Katalog no. 1241/1; Hamburg Katalog no. 434/1 (sixteen prints only); Jervis nos. 51–72; La Sirène item 50

■ 1 (verso)
Imposed with print 8
Platemark: 189 × 135/137 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 1; Jervis 64

■ 2 (verso)
Imposed with print 7
Platemark: 190 × 132 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 4; Jervis 63

■ 3 (verso)
Imposed with print 6
Platemark: 187/189 × 142 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 25; Jervis 57; Jean-Richard no. 88 (upper right corner of matrice clipped)

■ 4 (verso) (see Fig. 2)
Imposed with print 5 (print 5 has offset onto print 4)
Platemark: 189 × 139 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 27; Jervis 60; Fuhring 2002 fig. 11

■ 5 (recto) (see Fig. 2)
Imposed with print 4
Platemark: 191 × 142 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 2; Geymüller fig. 114; Jervis 56

■ 6 (recto)
Imposed with print 3
Platemark: 192 × 142/144 mm
Reproduction: Jervis 54

■ 7 (recto)
Imposed with print 2
Platemark: 189 × 129 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 10; Jervis 66; Byrne 1981 fig. 144

■ 8 (recto)
Imposed with print 1
Platemark: 189 × 135 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 8; Jervis 68

■ 9 (verso)
Imposed with print 14
Platemark: 189 × 141/143 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 5; Jervis 55; Fuhring 2002 fig. 10

■ 10 (verso)
Imposed with print 13
Platemark: 200 × 138/140 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 6; Jervis 51

■ 11 (verso)
Imposed with print 12 (print 11 has offset onto print 12)
Platemark: 190 × 140 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 40 (image reversed during photogravure process); Jervis 71

■ 13 (recto)
Imposed with print 10
Platemark: 198 × 137 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Destailleur, Recueil, i, pl.41; Guilmard, ii, pl. 4; Baldus, Meubles 3; Jervis 52

■ 14 (recto)
Imposed with print 9
Platemark: 190 × 140 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 7; Jervis 53

■ 15 (verso)
Imposed with print 20
Platemark: 186 × 140/144 mm. Upper left corner rounded
A 10 mm tear closed without loss
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 41 (image reversed during photogravure process); Jervis 58

■ 16 (verso)
Imposed with print 19
Platemark: 187 × 140 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 9; Jervis 65

■ 17 (verso)
Imposed with print 18 (print 17 has offset onto print 18)
Platemark: 197 × 136 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 43 (image reversed during photogravure process); Jervis 59

■ 18 (recto)
Imposed with print 17
Platemark: 191 × 126/128 mm. Upper left corner rounded
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 42 (image reversed during photogravure process); Jervis 70

■ 19 (recto)
Imposed with print 16
Platemark: 185/188 × 130 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 26; Jervis 61

■ 21 (verso)
Imposed with print 29
Platemark: 185 × 139 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 19; Katalog der Ornamentstichsammlung des Kunstgewerbe-Museums zu Berlin (Leipzig 1894), p.135; Jervis 67

■ 22 (verso)
Imposed with print 25
Platemark: 191 × 143 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 18; Jervis 72

Image

‘Tables’ (twenty-four subjects on eleven plates, complete)
Album folios 29, 46–55

references Le Blanc nos. 151–161; Baldus, Meubles nos. 14, 28–37; Geymüller p.319; Linzeler p.63/b (complete); Berlin Katalog no. 1241/2; Jervis nos. 74–84; La Sirène item 51 (complete)

■ 29 (recto)
Imposed with print 21
Platemark: 190 × 141 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 14; Jervis 74

■ 46 (verso)
Singleton (conjugate leaf cancelled, print 49 attached on its stub)
Platemark: 193 × 140 mm. Lower right corner of matrice broken or clipped
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 29; Jervis 77

■ 47 (verso)
Imposed with print 48
Platemark: 193 × 142 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 35; Jervis 82

■ 48 (recto)
Imposed with print 47
Platemark: 192 × 143 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: cf. Baldus, Meubles 30 (top = our print 48 top, bottom = our print 54 bottom) and Baldus 33 (top = our print 54 top, bottom = our print 48 bottom); Jervis 81 (like our print, cf. p.26 note 4: ‘the tables in [Jervis’] 81 and 84 are differently combined by Baldus’)

■ 49 (recto)
Inserted leaf 302 × 200 mm
Platemark: 193 × 142 mm
No watermark observed
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 37; Geymüller p.319; Jervis 83

■ 50 (verso)
Imposed with print 55
Platemark: 190 × 138 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 28; Jervis 76

■ 51 (verso)
Imposed with print 54
Platemark: 187 × 142 mm
Reproductions: Baldus 32; Jervis 80

■ 52 (verso) (see Fig. 7)
Imposed with print 53
Platemark: 188 × 142 mm
Reproductions: Destailleur, Receuil, i, pl.52; Baldus, Meubles 34; Jervis 78

■ 53 (recto) (see Fig. 7)
Imposed with print 52
Platemark: 192 × 143 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 36; Jervis 79

■ 54 (recto)
Imposed with print 51
Platemark: 191 × 143 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: cf. Baldus, Meubles 30 (top = our print 48 top, bottom = our 54 bottom) and Baldus 33 (top = our print 54 top, bottom = our print 48 bottom); Jervis 84

■ 55 (recto)
Imposed with print 50
Platemark: 187 × 139 mm
Reproductions: Baldus 31; Jervis 75

‘Chaire à dossier, avec pilastre et fronton’ (Chaise de chœur) (single plate)
Album folio 43

references Baldus, Meubles no. 44; Geymüller p.319; Linzeler p.63/c; Berlin Katalog no. 1241/11; Jervis no. 92; La Sirène item.65

■ 43 (recto)
Inserted leaf 315 × 210 mm (mounted on binder’s guard)
Print 198 × 94 mm trimmed, window-mounted in the album leaf
Watermark of album leaf: large armorial (three fleur-de-lys and crown)
Reproductions: Destailleur, Recueil, ii, pl.6; Baldus, Meubles 44 (image reversed in photogravure process); Jervis 92; Byrne 1981 fig. 142

‘Portes’ (two plates, complete)
Album folios 12, 25

references Baldus, Meubles nos. 23–24; Geymüller p.319; Linzeler p.63/d; Berlin Katalog no. 1241/4; Hamburg Katalog no. 434/6; Jervis nos. 98–99; La Sirène item 54

■ 12 (recto)
Imposed with print 11
Platemark: 182 × 147/149 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 23; Jervis 98

■ 25 (recto)
Imposed with print 22
Platemark: 193 × 145 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 24; Jervis 99

Image

‘Lits’ (eight subjects on six plates)
Album folios 36–41

references Le Blanc nos. 145–150; Baldus, Meubles nos. 11–13, 15–17; Geymüller p.319; Linzeler p.63/e; Berlin Katalog no. 1241/3; Hamburg Katalog no. 434/2; Jervis nos. 85–90; La Sirène items 52–53

■ 36 (verso)
Imposed with print 41
Platemark: 191 × 138 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Destailleur, Recueil, ii, pl.8; Baldus, Meubles 15; Jervis 86

■ 37 (verso)
Imposed with print 40
Platemark: 140 × 197 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 13; Jervis 87

■ 38 (verso) (see Fig. 8)
Imposed with print 39
Platemark: 205 × 140 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 16; Jervis 90

■ 39 (recto) (see Fig. 8)
Imposed with print 38
Platemark: 210 × 135 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 12; Jervis 89

■ 40 (recto)
Imposed with print 37
Platemark: 135 × 220 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 17; Jervis 88

■ 41 (recto)
Imposed with print 36
Platemark: 190 × 144 mm
Reproductions: Destailleur, Recueil, ii, pl.9; Baldus, Meubles 11; Jervis 85; Byrne 1981 fig. 143

‘Deux gaines et un panneau orné de sculptures’ (three subjects, on one plate)
Album folio 35

references Baldus, Meubles no. 49; Geymüller p.319; Linzeler p.63/f; Berlin Katalog no. 1241/7; Jervis no. 97; La Sirène item 56

■ 35 (recto)
Imposed with print 30
Platemark: 138 × 186 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 49 (image reversed during photogravure process); Jervis 97; Fuhring 2002 fig. 1

‘Baignoire’ (fonts baptismaux? coffre? sarcophage?) (single plate)
Album folio 44 (verso)

references Geymüller p.321; Linzeler p.63/g; Jervis no. 94; Amsterdam catalogue no. 547.2; La Sirène item 42

■ 45
Laid to verso of folio 44
Platemark: 65 × 130 mm (sheet 103 × 223 mm)
Reproductions: Jervis 94; Byrne 1981 fig. 126; Amsterdam catalogue no. 547.2

‘Dessus de cheminée’ (single plate)
Album folio 20

references Guilmard p.11; Baldus, Meubles no. 48; Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 39; Jervis no. 95; La Sirène item 58

■ 20 (recto)
Imposed with print 15
Platemark: 142 × 220mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 48 (image reversed during photogravure process); Jervis 95; Fuhring 2002 fig. 8

‘Trois termes ou cariatides, de profil’ (three subjects on one plate)
Album folio 30

references Baldus, Meubles no. 45; Geymüller p.319; Linzeler p.61/b; Jervis no. 101; La Sirène item 60

■ 30 (verso) (see Fig. 4)
Imposed with print 35
Platemark: 185 × 136 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 45 (image reversed during photogravure process); Jervis 101

‘Gaines ou scabellons ’ (eight subjects on two plates, complete)
Album folios 31, 34

references Baldus, Meubles nos. 21–22; Geymüller p.319; Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 39; Linzeler p.61,c; Berlin Katalog no. 1241/8; La Sirène item no. 61

■ 31 (verso)
Imposed with print 34
Platemark: 140 × 186 mm. Crack in plate between 3rd and 4th scabellon
Reproduction: Baldus, Meubles 21

■ 34 (recto)
Imposed with print 31
Platemark: 138 × 182 mm
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 22; Geymüller fig. 25 (detail)

‘Grand dressoir avec cariatides de femmes’ (single plate)
Album folio 26

references Guilmard p.12; Destailleur Sale lot 288,2 (‘Grands dressoirs, 2 pièces); Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 38a; Linzeler p.63; Jervis no. 96; La Sirène item 69

■ 26 (recto)
Inserted leaf (mounted on binder’s guard)
Platemark: 272 × 192 mm
Watermark: bunch of grapes
Reproductions: Jervis 69; La Sirène [plate 1]

‘Grand meuble de cabinet à trois étages’ (single plate)
Album folio 27

references Guilmard p.12; Baldus, Meubles no. 39; Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 38b; Jervis no. 62; La Sirène item 70

■ 27 (recto)
Inserted leaf, bottom 60 mm folded in
Print 341 × 205 mm, trimmed within platemark at bottom (platemark left hidden in gutter)
A clean 20 mm tear along fold (no loss of image)
Watermark: none observed in print, horizontal chain lines
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 39 (image reversed during photogravure process); Jervis 62 (image taken from Baldus, cf. p.x)

‘La Charité, assise sous un riche tabernacle’ (single plate)
Album folio 28

references Baldus, Meubles no. 38; Geymüller p.325; Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 49f; La Sirène item 71

■ 28 (recto)
Inserted leaf (mounted on binder’s guard)
Print 295 × 132 mm trimmed, laid to album sheet
Watermark: none observed
Reproduction: Baldus, Meubles 38 (image reversed during photogravure process)

‘Trois chimères, vues de profil’ (single plate)
Album folio 32

references Baldus, Meubles no. 20; Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 39; Linzeler p.61; Berlin Katalog no. 1241/9; Jervis no. 100; La Sirène item 63

■ 32 (verso) (see Fig. 3)
Imposed with print 33
Platemark 210 × 142 mm. Plate clipped left? (tail not complete as in Baldus reproduction)
Watermark: J. Perret
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 20; Jervis 100; Fuhring 2002 fig. 2

‘Un panneau représentant la Victoire avec des trophées’ (single plate)
Album folio 33

references Baldus, Meubles no. 47; Geymüller p.319; Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 39; Berlin Katalog no. 1241/5; Jervis no. 96; Fontainebleau et l’estampe en France au xvie siècle: iconographie et contra­dictions, catalogue of an exhibition Château-Musée de Nemours (Paris 1985), 140; Amsterdam catalo­gue no. 547.1; La Sirène item 57

■ 33 (recto) (see Fig. 3)
Imposed with print 32
Platemark 190 × 130 mm
Reproductions: Baldus, Meubles 47 (image reversed during photogravure process); Jervis 96; Amsterdam catalogue no. 547.1; Fuhring 2002 fig. 7

‘Lit style Henri ii ’ (single plate)
Album folio 42

references Geymüller pp.318–19 (‘Pièce unique. Ancienne coll. Fountaine, chez M. Foulc’); Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 9d (‘Epreuve unique’)

■ 42 (recto) (see Fig. 5)
Mounted on an inserted leaf 315 × 290 mm
Print 210 × 287 mm trimmed within platemark
Watermark of album sheet: post horn
Reproduction: Foulc Sale pl. 2

‘Chaire a haut dossier’ (single plate)
Album folio 44 (recto)

references Furhing 2010 pp.54 fig. 52 (reproducing our impression), 311 no. ME1 3; Fuhring 2016 pp.785, 791 fig. 23 (reproducing our impression)

■ 44 (recto) (see Fig. 6)
Inserted leaf of album dimensions
Print 315 × 210 mm trimmed, window-mounted in the album leaf
Watermark of album leaf: large armorial (three fleur-de-lys and crown)

List of Prints / Associated prints

‘Deux Lucarnes, jointes a la suite des Meubles’ (two plates, complete)⁴⁴
Album folios 23–24

references Destailleur, Notices, p.46; Destailleur, Recueil, p.14; Baldus, Meubles nos. 50–51; Destailleur Sale lot 289 (with other furniture prints in a contemporary album); Geymüller p.318; Guilmard p.12; Baldus nos. 50–51; Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 23 (with other works, in a binding post-1561); Berlin Katalog no. 1241/15; La Sirène item 64

■ 23 (verso)
Inserted leaf (mounted on binder’s guard)
Platemark: 186 × 120 mm. Upper left corner rounded
No watermark observed (same paper stock as 24)
Reproductions: Guilmard, ii, pl. 5; Baldus, Meubles 50 (image reversed during photogravure proc­ess); Geymüller fig. 78

■ 24 (recto)
Inserted leaf (mounted on binder’s guard)
Platemark: 191 × 118 mm
No watermark observed (same paper stock as 23)
Reproduction: Baldus, Meubles 51 (image reversed during photogravure process)

‘Grands Cartouches de Fontainebleau’ (four from the set of twenty)
Album folios 56, 58, 59, 61

references Baldus, Cartouches no. 21; Geymüller p.315; Félix Herbet, Les Graveurs de l’école de Fontainebleau (reprint Amsterdam 1969), pp.150–153: iv–v (two suites of ‘Grands Cartouches’, each ten plates); Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 28; Linzeler p.62; Berlin Katalog no. 283; J.M. González de Zárate, Real Colección de Estampas de San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Vitoria-Gasteiz 1992), volume i

■ 56 (recto)
Deuxième suite: ‘Rond vide entre deux satyres termes; au dessus, un enfant soufflant dans deux longues cornes’
Herbet p.152 no. 6 (v, 6)
Inserted leaf of album dimensions (conjugate with 61)
Borderline 225 × 155 mm (sheet 235 × 167 mm), window-mounted
Watermark in print: charged circle (50 mm), six-pointed star beneath
Reproduction: González de Zárate, i, p.60 no. 2.4(102)

■ 58 (recto)
Première suite: ‘Panneau rectangulaire vide, dans des cuirs. De chaque côte, torse de femme, sans bras, supportant un panier de fruits’
Herbet p.150 no. 1 (iv, 1)
Inserted leaf of album dimensions (conjugate with 59)
Print 162 × 199 mm trimmed, window-mounted
Watermark: none observed in album sheet or print
Reproduction: Rudolf Berliner, Ornamentale Vorlage-Blätter (Leipzig 1925), pl.187

■ 59 (recto)
Première suite: ‘Colonne terminée par un torse de satyre séparant un cadre vide à gauche d’une moitie de cadre a droit’
Herbet p.151 no. 10 (iv, 10)
Inserted leaf of album dimensions (conjugate with 58)
Print 165 × 229 mm trimmed, window-mounted
Watermark in print: charged circle (50 mm), six-pointed star beneath
Reproductions: Baldus 21; González de Zárate, i, p.158 no. 1.7(98)

■ 61 (recto)
Première suite: ‘Femme dans une niche, portant un croissant sur la tête, derrière des cuirs; les jam­bes sont dans une gaine’
Herbet p.150 no. 5 (iv, 5)
Inserted leaf of album dimensions (conjugate with 56)
Print 230 × 157 mm trimmed, window mounted
Watermark: none observed in sheet or print
Reproductions: Geymüller fig. 20; González de Zárate, i, p.57, no. 1.4(95)

‘Les Petits Cartouches de Fontainebleau’ (two from a group of uncertain size)
Album folios 57, 60

references Guilmard p.11 (30 plates); Baldus, Cartouches nos. 30–31; Geymüller p.315 (36 plates); Félix Herbet, Les Graveurs de l’école de Fontainebleau (reprint Amsterdam 1969), pp.153–157: vi: ‘Petits Cartouches’ (32 plates); Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 29 (31 plates); Linzeler p.62; Berlin Katalog no. 284 (29 plates); Amsterdam catalogue no. 542 (31 plates); La Sirène item 38; J.M. González de Zárate, Real Colección de Estampas de San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Vitoria-Gasteiz 1992), volume i

■ 57 (recto)
‘Petits Cartouches de Fontainebleau’: ‘Cadre rond dans des cuirs ou sont disposées sept figures. En hauteur’
Herbet p.157 no. 30(vi, 30); Amsterdam catalogue 542.29
Inserted leaf 300 × 205 mm (mounted on binder’s guard, remargined below)
(conjugate with 60)
Platemark: 198 × 144 mm
Watermark: none observed in binder’s guard or print
Reproduction: Baldus, Cartouches 30 (image reversed during photogravure process)

■ 60 (recto)
‘Petits Cartouches de Fontainebleau’: ‘Cadre carré dans des cuirs où sont disposées huit figures. En hauteur’
Herbet p.157 no. 30 (vi, 31)
Inserted leaf 300 × 205 mm (mounted on binder’s guard, remargined below)
(conjugate with 57)
Platemark 194 × 146 mm
Watermark: none observed in binder’s guard or print
Reproductions: Baldus, Cartouches 31; Amsterdam catalogue no. 542.30

‘Fleurons’ (twelve subjects on six plates, complete)
Album folios 62–67

references Destailleur, Notices, p.46; Destailleur, Recueil, p.14; Guilmard p.11; Baldus, Fleurons; Geymüller pp.174, 320; Destailleur Sale lot 292; Foulc Sale lot 75, no. 41; Berlin Katalog no. 290 (11 prints only, dated ‘um 1562’); Linzeler pp.61–62; Amsterdam catalogue no. 546

■ 62 (recto)
Inserted leaf (mounted on binder’s guard)
Top print: platemark 75 × 129 mm (Linzeler no. 7)
Bottom print: platemark 75 × 128 mm (Linzeler no. 11)
No watermark observed
Reproduction: Baldus (unnumbered)

■ 63 (recto)
Inserted leaf (mounted on binder’s guard)
Top print: platemark 72 × 126 mm (Linzeler no. 2)
Bottom print: platemark 73 × 123 mm (Linzeler no. 5)
No watermark observed
Reproduction: Baldus (unnumbered); top Amsterdam catalogue no. 546.9

■ 64 (recto)
Inserted leaf (mounted on binder’s guard)
Top print: platemark 72 × 130 mm (Linzeler no. 1)
Bottom print: platemark 75 × 127 mm (Linzeler no. 12)
No watermark observed
Reproductions: Baldus (unnumbered); top Geymüller p.326

■ 65 (recto)
Inserted leaf (mounted on binder’s guard)
Top print: platemark 72 × 126 mm (Linzeler no. 4)
Bottom print: platemark 72 × 126 mm (Linzeler no. 6)
Fragment of watermark in binder’s guard
Reproduction: Baldus (unnumbered)

■ 66 (recto)
Inserted leaf (mounted on binder’s guard)
Top print: platemark 75 × 117 mm (Linzeler no. 8)
Bottom print: platemark 75 × 122 mm (Linzeler no. 9)
Fragment of watermark in binder’s guard
Reproductions: Baldus (unnumbered); bottom Amsterdam catalogue no. 546.2

■ 67 (recto)
Inserted leaf (mounted on binder’s guard)
Top print: platemark 75 × 117 mm (Linzeler no. 10). Corner rounded
Bottom print: platemark 74 × 126 mm (Linzeler no. 3). Corner rounded
No watermark observed
Reproduction: Baldus (unnumbered)