Lot 69: Bérain, Jean

Diverses Pieces tres utiles pour les Arquebuzieres. Paris: chez l'auteur, 1659 Oblong 4to, 10 engraved plates (including the title, ranging in size from one folding at 8 1/4 x 13 1/4 in.; 210 x 336 mm to 4 5/8 x 6 1/2 in.; 118 x 165 mm) mounted, signed "Berain fecit." Red half morocco and marbled boards.

Extraordinarily rare suite of plates depicting elaborate designs for the metal plates decorating the French arquebus. Jean Bérain (1638-1711), known as "the Elder," was born in 1638 or 1639 at Saint Mihiel (Meuse), the son of a master gunsmith, and died in Paris on the 24th of January 1711. In 1674 he was appointed dessinateur de la chambre et du cabinet de Roi, in succession to Gissey, whose pupil he is believed to have been. From 1677 onward he had apartments, near to those of André Charles Boulle, for whom he made many designs. After the death of Le Brun he was commissioned to compose and supervise the whole of the exterior decoration of the king's ships. He furnished designs for the decorations and costumes used in opera performances, for court festivals, and for public solemnities such as funeral processions, and inspired the ornamentation of rooms and of furniture to such an extent that little was made during his later years which he had not designed, or at least which was not in his manner. The present work was prepared and printed at the artist's expense, some time before he had achieved fame.