| On this page we are going to compare some of the imprints of W.Cat.705 with those of W.Cat.42. I noticed a few unusual imprints in the decoration of W.Cat.42 that seemed out of place in the habitual kit of Derome le jeune. Specifically an imprint that Barber has catalogued as DCR 25. |
| In Comparative Diagram 1, we see a detail extracted from W.Cat.42, where we find an example of Barber's DCR 25. |
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In Comparative Diagram 2, I show Barber's catalogue entry for DCR 25. Looking at the example of this tool shown in Comparative Diagram 1, some people might be inclined to think that Barber has illustrated this imprint model upside down. He notes that this tool is found on W.Cat.42 and W.Cat.705. I thought we should look at W.Cat.705 to see if we can find any comparable tools and or possible chronological implications. Barber has suggested that W.Cat.42 was decorated by J.-A. Derome in 1747. I show W.Cat.705 at the top of the page, it is the only other Barber example of a binding that shares the DCR 25 imprint, and it is dated to at least 1764. Part of my reason for looking at this imprint is the fact that I have not seen it in any other Derome le jeune binding, and consequently had not catalogued it even after more than a decade of studying Derome's bindings. Now looking closely at W.Cat.705 we discover even more astonishing tools never seen previously on Derome bindings. |
| In Comparative Diagram 3, I have attempted to extract from W.Cat.705 a pair of unusual imprints that are obviously copies of some very similar imprints found on a 1752 Dubuisson binding, we compare both in this diagram. |
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In Comparative Diagram 4, I show the source of the Dubuisson imprints pd-46a-6 and pd-46b-6. This binding was made by Dubuisson probably not long after the publication of this book in 1752. This can be partially confirmed by the style of the armorial stamp of Madame Pompadour, that changed significantly over time. These are also rare Dubuisson imprints that he almost never used.This is the only binding that I know of where you find these imprints. Therefore the occurrence of close copies of these tools showing up in the work of Derome le jeune over a decade later seems a bit mysterious. Not to mention the fact that Barber did not record this pair of imprints...why? we wonder. Could this be part of the Dubuisson tools that Boismare copied? (see Thoinan on Jean-Baptiste Boismare). |
| In Comparative Diagram 5, we see another very surprising imprint that Barber has catalogued as FR 80. This is not really a Derome tool, I have not seen it in any other Derome bindings, nor can Barber give a further reference to it. |
| In Comparative Diagram 6, I show Barber FL 190 that is also in Barber's list of W.Cat.705 tools. This small tool is going to lead us on another adventure as we see that W.Cat.784 also shares this imprint, this is a briefcase that according to Barber dates from 1774 to 1780 and is a mine of exotic imprints that Barber has attributed to Derome le jeune. We are going to look at this on the next page. |
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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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