| The binding shown above is found in a 1998 LIBRAIRIE SOURGET - MANUSCRITS ET LIVRES PRECIEUX - CATALOGUE N° XVII, page 298, lot 106. Here I found another circle diamond square palette, but this was nothing compared to what suddenly dawned on me, I had stumbled upon the 1698 Breviarium spine panel fleuron, something I had almost forgotten about, as the chances of finding another one seemed to be getting more and more remote. However on close inspection the 1698 fleuron was almost the only thing that was the same in these panels and palettes. |
| When I searched the internet for "au chiffre couronné d'Armand Jean du Plessis duc de Richelieu" I found the Wikipedia page for Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (click here to see this) but this did not really make sense he was born 9 September 1585 and died 4 December 1642, this book was published in 1681. Finally searching for "au chiffre couronné duc Richelieu" I found a chiffre couronné example of Armand Jean de Vignerot du Plessis, 2nd Duke of Richelieu (Paris, 3 October 1629 - Paris, 20 May 1715), (click here to see this) |
| The next binding (shown above) also has the circle diamond square palette as well as the same corner tools in the spine panels. The reproduction of this binding is found in a 1997 LIBRAIRIE SOURGET - MANUSCRITS ET LIVRES PRECIEUX - CATALOGUE N° XVI, page 24-27, lot 8. We do not know when this binding was bound and decorated in the Boyet workshops, however its decoration has a lot in common with the 1686 and 1688 Histoires. The Royal fleuron in the centre of the spine panels indicating a royal client for this binding, try to not fall in love with this fleuron. |
| In Comparative Diagram 2, we can see that the corner tools are the same on all three bindings (1500, 1686, 1688), the palette uses in the tomb label is different due perhaps to the larger size of the 1500 binding, the palette here appears to be Boyet type C-2 as found in the Isabelle de Conihout & Pascal Ract-Madoux 2002 Boyet example 41, shown below in Comparative Diagram 3. I have not attempted to identify the palettes found on the 1686 and 1688 tomb labels, they are unlike any that I have catalogued so far. |
| In Comparative Diagram 4 we see our objective of the past few pages, this simple palette, appears to be the same in all examples despite small differences in size due to myriad reasons, spine curvature, photographic distortion, leather shrinkage, poor measurements made by the various individuals etc. etc. however I think these are the same, on close inspection some of the dots appear to be pierced. |
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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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