| The reproduction shown above is from Heribert Tenscherts 2019 catalogue entitled « à compartiments ». This catalogue is a treasure chest of French 18th century mosaic bindings, however the catalogue information is as I have mentioned previously, faulty and out dated. We do not see in the Tenschert information any mention of Jean Delorme, we do see however the name of Derome le jeune. I can state categorically that Derome le jeune did not have anything to do with this binding. I have detailed this same binding on a previous page (click here to see it), on the next page after that I detail the history of Jean Delorme, the little that is known (click here to see this) and finally on this page I make the link between Pierre Delorme and the Etat binder. |
| I noticed in the Tenschert information their reference to the Gumuchian Catalogue XXII, where we find as the frontspiece a color reproduction of this same binding. |
| Below I have reproduced the Gumuchian information for item No. 204, note that in the title of this page they estimate the date of production for this miniture mosaic binding as c.1765, however in the end of the information they suggest that the binding was possibly made by Le Monnier or Padeloup! That it could be Padeloup seems unlikely as he died in 1758. We can prove that some of the tools used to decorate this binding belonged to Dubuisson, however there are also some tools that are not typical of Dubuisson. It is interesting that the Gumuchian expert suggests that the miniture paintings that are the centerpieces of the boards were executed by the binder himself "this painting is doubtless the work of the binder, as is often the case", in my mind there one most likely person who could have done this artwork and that is Dubuisson himself, here then is the conundrum of this binding, it should be a post Dubuisson binding by the looks of the tools used to decorate it. However I am almost certain that the paintings were done by Pierre-Paul Dubuisson. The other thing that occured to me that this may be a post Pompadour binding as well, something that was made lamenting her death, which then seems likely to fit the 1765 estimation. The next best guess is that François Boucher is the painter. Probably no other painter knew her as well as he. Perhaps a close study of the imprints found on this binding may reveal a more accurate picture of when it was made. Fortunately this is not the only example of this particular style of decoration. |
| Below I have reproduced another example that was produced by the same author of the Tenschert 93 binding. This reproduction is found in Librairie Sourget catalogue XVII 1998 Manuscrits Et Livres Precieux Item No. 183. The imprints on this binding point to Pierre Delorme, what remains to discover is when, exactly did he make these bindings. |
| In the Sourget information on item 183 we discover that there are in fact 4 of these bindings, I show two of them here and we need to find the two other examples. I have ordered now both catalogues mentioned. |
| While I was searching for other examples of Delorme's work, in an effort to try to find chronological clues, I made an interesting discovery that we will look at on the next page. |
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click here to return to the HOME page. click here to see an INDEX of the 2017 pages. see below links to previous work |
| 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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