| Last night I was searching the internet to try to find I another Derome binding with this centerpiece decoration of a bouquet in a vase. Barber calls this a bulbous vase tool and he has cataloged 15 examples which fall generally into two types, however before we go too far into this I have to mention that this one (shown above) found on our Derome Semaine Sainte c1770 is much larger than the similar types that Barber has in his catalogue. His BV 7 or BV 8 examples are the closest but smaller. Eventualy I stumbled upon an old and broken binding that was in poor shape but looked like it had the right centerpiece (see this) After a closer examination and some tests I could see that the centerpiece was identical to ours, I have reproduced it (reconstructed it) in the diagram below (example F) it is found on a 1777 plaque decorated Almanach Royal. Then I started searching for more examples of this plaque which turns out to be one that was classified by Rahir 184g (see this) This got me thinking, is this really a Dubuisson plaque or is it a Derome plaque? Then, searching the internet for 184g and I found some interesting bindings. I forgot that Barber shows this plaque in his catalogue. (shown below in Comparative Diagram 2) I kept on searching feverishly all night and eventually found this petit Paroissien (example D) (see this) and then finally after nearly exhausting all possible search parameters found a binding that is like a key to the centerpiece mystery (example A see below Comparative Diagram 2 (see this) |
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A - 1767 Tresor de la Penitence (see this) B - 1760 Semaine Sainte (see this) C - Manuscrit (see this) D - PETIT PAROISSIEN (Le) Paris, G. de Hansy, 1765. In-12, maroquin rouge époque, plats décorés de grands fers et d'un bouquet en médaillon central (see this) E - Semaine Sainte c.1770. F - 1777 Almanach Royal (see this) G = Almanch Royal 1771 (see Comparative Diagram 2) H - Rahir 184h 1777 Almanach Royal. I - Rahir 184g 1775 Almanach Royal. |
| Now after assembling these Derome le jeune bindings, I had to reevaluate my ideas on the chronology of this series. In 2021 I was thinking that the Manuscript binding shown in Comparative Diagram 5 was from the 1780s, now I see that it could be from 60s especially considering the spine decorations that are composed of early jad tools. On the other hand the Almanach Royal examples show that these bindings were made in the 70s. |
| Barber lists a number of examples of this plaque that Rahir attributed to Dubuisson, however Barber correctly notes that this g model is found " in the later 1760s" which means after Pierre-Paul Dubuisson. I wonder if anyone up until now, has considered that just maybe Derome was also making plaque bindings, or anyway decorating ready made plaque bindings. It will be hard for me to find these examples that Barber lists, however it will be very interesting if they all turn out to be decorated by Derome le jeune. |
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I wondered if these 1771 No.258 imprints could possibly be made from the tools of Jacques-Antoine Derome that we have examined previously (see this).
I am not convinced that J A made a lot of bindings but at least the imprints on this particular 1745 Annunciation binding can be found later in the dentelles of Derome le jeune. This 1771 Almanach Royal is another example of this, the same 1745 J A Derome tool must have made these 1771 imprints as the overlay would seem to testify. If you are surprised, I am too. It may be though that the 1745 binding that we are referring to was actually executed around 1755 by Derome le jeune. IF it was made by Jacques-Antoine Derome, why did he wait until his old age to suddenly make such an unusual, gold tooled, hand painted binding? If you examine closely the decorative gold tooling on this binding you will find that who ever made it was an expert at linking these very small imprints in a very precise way, it would take a steady hand and good eyes as well as a lot of practice. You do not see any obvious mistakes or badly placed imprints there are no doubled imprints and the drawer handle imprint that we see there jad-58-2 appears to be the same one that we see here on the Gumuchian No. 258. In fact it is very surprising that we have not found dozens of bindings decorated with these same tools in the 1730s and 40s, if that was when Jacques-Antoine Derome was making decorated bindings? |
| In Comparative Diagram 5 we see an undated binding that has been decorated by Derome le jeune, the centerpiece decoration is so similar to that of the 1767 example in Comparative Diagram 4 that we are forced to consider that these two bindings might be contemporaneous. |
| In Comparative Diagram 6, we see what appear to be identical J.-A. Derome imprints, the spine panel pallet (jad-p-1) is one that Derome le jeune was using up to 1766. The jad-1 imprint is also found on the Annunciation binding (see this) |
| In Comparative Diagram 7, we can see the strong similarities in the Derome centerpiece decorations for armorials with mica covers from 1767 to 1777, this is of course a great help if you are looking to find medium to small sized Derome bindings from this period. Once you have these specific arrangements in your mind, you will be able to spot a Derome from miles away. I have searched the internet for days and nights, looking for any bindings of this kind and especially plaque bindings with painted armories under mica covers, there are not many, Dubuisson with Delorme have a greater number of similar centerpiece decorations, however it is easy to see the differences between these and the work of Derome. |
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| Even experts are sometimes wrong, before you spend thousands on a book, please do your own research! Just because I say a certain binding can be attributed to le Maitre isn't any kind of guarantee, don't take my word for it, go a step further and get your own proof. In these pages I have provided you with a way of doing just that. |
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