Catalogue de mes armes & objets d’antiquité, lépidoptères & insectes divers, variétés & espèces rares ou inédites. Dessins d’après nature.

Small folio (305 x 235 mm), red half-chagrin with corners set with gilt fillets, smooth spine decorated, untrimmed; a few plates detached, soiling and stains, worn binding; numbering of plates haphazard or non-existent with occasional re-numbering by the author, without plate number 5 or 23 (Period binding).

Superb hand-illustrated catalog by Dijon lawyer and artist Henry de La Cuisine (d. 1891), listing a total of 1,500 arms, objets d'art, paintings, engravings, albums, natural history objects, books and manuscripts, and illustrated by him with 62 superb full-page plates, most of them gouaches in brilliant colors.

Opening with a frontispiece and illustrated title, the catalog comprises several lists:

• Catalog of weapons: 121 entries (rifles, pistols, sabres, swords, knives, etc.) from all over the world (France, Maghreb, Italy, Spain, Persia, Japan, Turkey, Egypt, India, etc.) from the Middle Ages to modern times.
Henry de La Cuisine gives a few details, such as the weapons lost during the December 1870 invasion, whether they were donated by a friend, or whether their authenticity has been verified.
• Catalog Paintings, engravings, albums: 69 items, including some works by Henry de La Cuisine.
• Natural history objects and miscellaneous items: 961 pieces, stuffed animals, teeth, horns, feathers, shells, minerals and precious metals, mother-of-pearl and ivory, etc.
Of particular note is a collection of 47 alcedinidae or kingfishers, or an important collection of beetles, with this note from Henry de La Cuisine: “My collection of Carabid beetles is now very, very rich and valuable, and may be considered one of the finest in France (240 species represented by over 1000 individuals).”
Objects and specimens come from all over the world: Egypt, Norway, Italy, Siberia, Chile, Australia, Spain, Saxony, Mexico, Congo, China, India, Japan, etc.
•  Catalog of family heirlooms found in my father's estate & bequeathed to me by him: 65 objects, family portraits, items bearing the family coat of arms or having belonged to various ancestors, some dating from the 16th century, including a library of 3,000 volumes.
•  Catalog of my books: travels (53 entries), natural history (117), literature (73), theology (19), hunting, hunting novels (52), artistic works & manuscripts (33 entries, including the manuscripts and personal works of Henry de La Cuisine, including this catalog).

The 62 plates that illustrate this catalog are mainly devoted to natural history objects, with butterflies, birds, insects and minerals, including 13 weapon plates. One of the plates shows Henry de La Cuisine's pet chameleon.
The subjects are beautifully executed in gouache, with shadows suggested by pen-and-ink cross-hatching, a real work of art. Some minerals and insects are enhanced with gold or metallic paint. Only seven plates of weapons are drawn in pen and ink.
The plates run throughout the volume, but are not attached to any particular page.

Lebossé (Alain). Henry de La Cuisine, un artiste entomologiste méconnu. [18 p.] Revue Alexanor. Volume 10. Issue 4. March 2024.

The de La Cuisine family, a younger branch of a noble family from Brittany, settled in Bresse Louhannaise in the 16th century, and remained in Burgundy until the death of Henry de La Cuisine without descendants.

3 500€

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