[A collection of engravings of cartouches, architectural fantasies and fans, all in a single album]

Paris: Huquier and others, 1768. 18 suites and 4 unassigned plates in one volume, folio (21 5/8 x 14 inches). Engraved throughout. 150 leaves with 13 titles and 161 plates, all after Lajoue (1 folding, 1 hand-coloured reverse-printed 'vue d'optique' plate), most plates mounted to size, some plates cut to the edge or into the plate area. Green morocco gilt, covers with wide decorative border tooled in gilt, expertly rebacked to style, spine in compartments with double raised bands, lettered gilt

Provenance: F.A. Magliss (inscription dated 1905? on the verso of the second plate in the 16th suite)

A unique 'sammelband' including the greatest engraved work produced from Jacques de Lajoue drawings: a celebration of French rocaille at its peak, as executed by an exuberant master.

Jacques de Lajoue 'is one of a group of masters who, during the last years of Louis XIV's reign, reacted against the conventional austerity and heaviness of form that characterised the art of the 17th century. Gillot, Watteau, Aurèle Meissonier and Gilles-Marie Oppenoord were friends of his. Alongside them he provided work for Gabriel Huquier to engrave. Huquier rendered 39 [sic.] drawings by Lajoue - of ornaments, trophies, griffins [sic.] and architectural monuments ... It was through his influence that the taste for rocaille developed' (Benezit VIII, p.322). Lajoue 'was the son of the architect and master mason Jacques de La Joue and Marguerite Cannaban. He was accepted by the Académie Royale as an architectural painter on 26 April 1721 and he continued to take part in its exhibitions until 1753. He exhibited at the Place Dauphine in 1721 and his success never seems to have waned from this date onwards. He obtained work in several decorative projects in royal palaces and buildings. In 1732, he won great acclaim with a View of the Bibliothèque Ste-Geneviève. From 1730 to 1739, he provided drawings to C. Nicolas Cochin (junior) to be used for engravings ... Lajoue was patronised, in particular, by Mme. de Pomadour... [he] was also a close friend of Nicolas Cochin, de Troy, Lemoyne and Coustou the Elder. (op.cit.) This album was apparently assembled in 1905 or shortly afterwards, perhaps by F.A. Magliss. Cohen/de Ricci (column 589) record a similar 'sammelband' but it includes fewer images: 160 images including titles, as opposed to 174 images in the present work. The order in which the various suites are bound here is the same (with one or two insertions or omissions) as the Cohen/de Ricci example: this suggests that the compiler had knowledge either of the Cohen/de Ricci example or of their description of it. The majority of the plates are mounted to size (a few are cut into the plate mark, but, with two exceptions, the image area is not affected). The Berlin Katalog describes a smaller 'sammelband' basically made up from suites 6-10 and 15 from the present work, and their entry includes two of the 'chinoiserie' plates that are part of suite number 18 in this album. The suites are as follows: 1. Livre Nouveau de Douze Morceaux de Fantasie utile a divers usages. Paris: chez l'Auteur ... et chez la Veuve Chereau, [no date]. Folio. Title and 11 plates after Lajoue by Lucas, Desplaces, Cochin fils, Guélard, Ch. Duflos, Ravenet and Aveline. (5 plates cut to within the plate mark). 2. [Premier Livre de Divers Morceaux d'Architecture, inventés par J. de La Joue et gravés par Huquier]. Paris: [no date]. Folio. 11 plates after Lajoue by Huquier. (Plates cut to edge of plate mark, lacking title) 3. Deuxieme Partie Livre d'Architecture paisages et perspectives. Paris: chez Huquier, [no date]. Folio. Title and 11 plates after Lajoue by Huquier. (Two plates cut to within the plate mark, the final plate with neat old repairs, the lower left corner of plate 9 torn and repaired) 4. Troisieme Partie Livre d'Architecture, paisages et perspectives. Paris: chez Huquier, [no date]. Folio. Title and 8 plates only (of 11) after Lajoue by Huquier. (Lacking plates numbered 6, 8 and 10). 5. Quatrieme Partie. Livre d'Architecture paisages et perspectives. Paris: chez Huquere [sic.], [no date]. Folio. Title and 8 plates only (of 11) after Lajoue by Huquier. (Lacking plates numbered 9, 10 and 11). 6. Recüeil Nouveau de differens cartouche inventez par ... La Joüe. Paris: chez Huquier, [no date]. Quarto. Title and 11 plates mounted on 6 leaves after Lajoue by Huquier. 7. Second Livre de Cartouches Inventés par ... La Joüe. Paris: chez Huquier, [no date]. Quarto. Title and 11 plates mounted on 6 leaves after Lajoue by Huquier. 8. Troisieme Livre de Cartouches Inventez par ... La Joüe. Paris: chez Huquier, [no date]. Quarto. Title and 11 plates mounted on 6 leaves after Lajoue by Huquier. 9. Livre de Cartouches de Guerre. Paris: chez Huquier, [no date]. Folio. Title and 6 plates after Lajoue by Huquier, extra-illustrated with a cartouche from a map dated 1744, being an enlarged version of one of the plates. 10. Livre de Buffets. Paris: chez Mondhare, 1768. Folio. Title and 6 plates after Lajoue by Huquier. A later re-issue. 11. Livre de Vases. Inventés par ... La Joüe. Paris: chez Huquier, [no date]. Folio. Title and 5 plates after Lajoue by Huquier. 12. Nouveaux Tableaux d'Ornemens et Rocailles. Paris: chez Huquier, [no date]. Folio. Title and 8 plates after Lajoue by Huquier. 13. Second Livre de Tableaux et Rocailles. Paris: chez Huquier, [no date]. Folio. Title and 8 plates only (of ?14) after Lajoue by Huquier. This suite is numbered consecutively with number 12, i.e. numbered from 10-18, Cohen/de Ricci records an example of where numbers 12 and 13 combined included a total of '24 pièces'. 14. [Designs for 'écrans à main' i.e. hand-screens or fans]. [Paris:] Huquier, [no date]. Folio. 8 plates after Lajoue by Huquier. (All cut to the edge of the plate area, 2 cut into the plate area but not affectiing the main image area). 15. Livre de divers Esquices [sic.] et Grifonemens. Paris: chez Huquier, [no date]. Octavo. Title inset to one leaf, 9 plates inset to three leaves, all after Lajoue by Huquier. 16. [Designs for 'dessus de portes' i.e. over doorways] Paris: ches [sic.] la veuve de François Chereau, [no date]. Folio. 13 plates after Lajoue by J. Ingram, N. Tardieu, C.N. Cochin (12 shaped designs and 1 rectangular design), extra-illustrated with 1 proof-before-letters, and 3 rectangular versions of three of the shaped designs. (8 plates cut into or close to the plate mark). The shaped designs may also have been intended as designs for 'écrans à main' i.e. hand-screens or fans. 17. [The elements]. Paris: ches [sic.] Basan, [no date]. Folio. 4 plates after Lajoue by F. Basan. (2 plates shaved into the plate mark). This is probably what Cohen/de Ricci calls the 'grands trophées' suite. 18. ['Chinoiserie' plates]. [Paris:] Basan. Folio. 3 plates after Lajoue by F. Basan. (2 plates shaved into the plate mark). 19. [Various subjects]. Paris: [no date]. 4 plates after Lajoue (1 plate present in two states: a normal uncoloured plate, and also a hand-coloured reverse printed 'vue d'optique').

Cf. Benezit VIII, p.322; cf. Berlin Kat.alog 400 and 401; cf. Cohen/de Ricci 589.