Traité des pierres gravées par P.J. Mariette. Recueil des pierres gravées du Cabinet du Roy.  Paris: de l'imprimerie de l'Auteur, 1750.

£8,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd · No longer available

An extremely handsome copy of the first edition of ‘the earliest analytical work on engraved gems’ by connoisseur and collector Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694-1774), which provides a description of the practice of engraving, and a summary of scholarship on the subject (Volume I) and an illustrated catalogue of those in the collection of Louis XV (Volume II). Among the plates in the first volume is a foldout engraving of a gem engraver in his workshop, with labelled diagrams of his tools; the second volume is lavishly illustrated with over 250 engraved full- and half-page depictions of gems in the Royal cabinet, all of superb, crisp impression, as well as numerous engraved headpieces and vignettes. “The two volumes are actually two distinct works combined together for the author’s convenience as publisher as well as writer. […] The first volume begins with a history of engraved gems in general, followed by an essay on modern gem engravers and their work, and a large description of the art of engraving […] In contrast, the second volume is entirely devoted to descriptions of engraved gems in the cabinet of Louis XV (1710-1774), King of France…The drawings of the gems were supervised by the Comte de Caylus, the noted French art connoisseur and antiquarian’ (Sinkankas 4208). According to Sinkankas, critics lauded the first volume for its value as a scholarly contribution to research on engraved gems, but were rather less enthusiastic about the second, finding the attractive engraving

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