CONFUCIUS - HELMAN, Isidore Stanislaus Henri.

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Abrégé historique des principaux traits de la vie de Confucius célèbre philosophe chinois. First edition, one of an unstated number of large paper copies, originally priced 18 livres and very much larger than the 12-livre quarto copies usually seen. "These hagiographic depictions show the sage as a semi-divine being, chronicling significant events of his life and works, from conception to death, and later rituals in his honour" (China on Paper).Helman (1743-1809) made the engravings illustrating the life of Confucius from a set of drawings sent from China to Paris by Jean-Joseph-Marie Amiot (1718-1793), the French Jesuit missionary. Amiot based his drawings on Zhang Kai's Shengji tu, a famous Ming dynasty illustrated biography of Confucius.

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