illuminated manuscript [RICHELIEU] [ROUSSELET,... - Lot 19 - Coutau-Bégarie

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  3. illuminated manuscript [RICHELIEU] [ROUSSELET,... - Lot 19 - Coutau-Bégarie
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illuminated manuscript [RICHELIEU] [ROUSSELET,... - Lot 19 - Coutau-Bégarie
illuminated manuscript [RICHELIEU] [ROUSSELET, Jean-Pierre] - Ceremonial of Vestures and Profession, for the use of the religious ladies of the Presentation In-4, full morocco, boards framed with a very rich lace with crowns, horns of plenty and suns, with, at the corners, monogram D.R. crowned and, in the center, arms of Plessis de Richelieu (Argent, three chevrons Gules), surmounted by the ducal crown and crook, surrounded by a cordelière. Spine decorated and stamped with the crowned figure. Ornate cups and caps. Green endpapers stamped in gold. Title decorated in color and gold, 98, [2] pp. red framing fillets, titles decorated in color and gold, initials, music staves, drawn lamp-ends. Pagination error on pages 67 and 68 which are doubled, light stain on p.17, two pages very slightly creased, some remarks in the margin. Luxurious manuscript bound with the arms of Armande du Plessis, perpetual prioress of the Benedictine nuns, known as de la Présentation de Notre-Dame. Regimented copy, detailing the ceremonial of the Ladies of the Presentation, from the day of their entry into the order to that of their death. The 49 vellum leaves," Roger Portalis details, "are written in Roman characters with notated music, using cut-out models, and decorated with initials painted in gold and colors. The titles of the chapter headings are in cartouches decorated with gold and colors, and bouquets of flowers decorate the end. On the title, framed by garlands of flowers and interlacing painted in gold, azure and vermilion, are painted in silver the arms of the Richelieu family in a diamond-shaped shield with a crosier and a cordelière. The rich character of the ornamentation of this unsigned manuscript allows it to be attributed to Rousselet. Of particular note is the very striking title composition, with skull, scythes, and hourglass opening the burial chapter. One can also underline the great finesse of the 6 large endpapers representing bouquets of a beautiful simplicity (anemones, cornflowers, hyacinths, roses, pansies, honeysuckle, ranunculus, etc.), inhabited here and there by butterflies and other insects. Baron Roger Portalis, in his Nicolas Jarry et la calligraphie au XVIIe siècle specifies that "Rousselet occupies a brilliant place as a calligrapher next to Jarry, or rather following him, because he worked at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the next. [He worked for the families of Richelieu, Beauvilliers, Pontchartrain and for the King [...] The calligraphy [of his manuscripts] is good. Excellent draughtsman, he decorated them himself and his works are remarkable by the richness of their ornamentation [...] " The copy that we present belonged to the collection of the Count of Lignerolles. One finds trace of it in the catalog of the first part of the sale after his death of his library: "A manuscript of the Ceremonial of the Vestures, for the use of the religious ladies of the Presentation, with the arms and the figure of Elisabeth-Marguerite-Armande du Plessis de Richelieu, executed on vellum in the eighteenth century, was sold 3,750 fr. " Elisabeth-Marguerite-Armande de Vignerot du Plessis, known as Mademoiselle de Fronsac, (1686 - 1744) was the daughter of Armand-Jean de Vignerot du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu, grand-nephew of the Cardinal and his direct heir. She was also the sister of the very restless Louis-François-Armand who "delivered to the world with all that it was necessary to please and to be worth nothing, he made many foolishnesses, which made do, less than three months after his marriage, that to his father to make put him in the Bastille. It was a place with which he became so well acquainted that he was seen there more than once", summarized Saint-Simon. An accomplished man of pleasure and a man of war, he took part in Cellamare's conspiracy without this marring his career as a courtier for too long. Armande, on the other hand, did not make much of a name for herself. She was a nun at first in Saint-Rémy-des-Landes, then named perpetual prioress of the Benedictine nuns of the Presentation of Notre-Dame in Paris. She died in her monastery on June 9, 1744. However, her taste for books saved her from being forgotten. It was noted by Albert Cim who, in Les femmes et les livres, counts her among the first class women bibliophiles. Catalog of rare and precious manuscripts and printed books in the library of the late Count de Lignerolles. First part: manuscripts, theology, jurisprudence, sciences and arts: sale Hôtel des commissaires-priseurs, room 2, January 29, 1894. Baron Roger Portalis, Nicolas Jarry et la calligraphie au XVIIe siècle. Paris, Techener, 1897 (excerpt from the Bulletin du Bibliophile, 1896 and 1897), which attributes the manuscript of the Vestures to Rousselet. Albert Cim, Les femmes et les livres, chapter 8. With its export certificate for a cultural good.
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