About this sheet
This is an original antique chromolithograph, printed in color with gold and silver, lettered "DES CROIX, (Suite)" Twelve further crosses, numbered 13 to 24, are set in four rows of three: an ermine cross ending in gold serpent heads on red, a blue raguly cross on silver, a gold cross pommy on green, a black cross of Lorraine on silver, a checky black and silver cross on red and a black forked cross on gold. Below are a red cross botonny on gold, a silver cross fretty in red on blue, a black and silver dovetailed cross on red, a blue embattled cross on silver, a blue cross with knobbed points on silver and a red cross recercelée on gold.
The running head reads "SCIENCE HÉRALDIQUE, PL. IX". The labels are "13. Croix gringolée, 14. Croix écotée, 15. Croix pommetée, 16. Croix de Lorraine, 17. Croix échiquetée, 18. Croix fourchetée, 19. Croix tréflée, 20. Croix frettée, 21. Croix entée, 22. Croix bretessée, 23. Croix retranchée, 24. Croix recercelée" (gringolée, raguly, pommy, Lorraine, checky, forked, botonny, fretty, dovetailed, embattled, retranchée, recercelée). The credits are "F. Seré del et lith" and "Chromolith. Lemercier", and below the caption, "Of crosses, continued", is "F. Séré direxit."
Le Moyen Âge et la Renaissance, histoire et description des mœurs et usages, du commerce et de l'industrie, des sciences, des arts, des littératures et des beaux-arts en Europe was edited by Paul Lacroix, who also wrote as the Bibliophile Jacob, with Ferdinand Séré as artistic director, and it was published in Paris in five volumes between 1848 and 1851. Its plates reproduce objects, manuscripts, seals and ornament of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and every sheet carries a running head naming the work, the section and the plate number. The Science héraldique plates of the fourth volume set out the vocabulary of French blazon in sequence, each shield labeled with the term it illustrates, so that the series reads as an illustrated glossary of heraldry.
Framed singly or hung as a run of the heraldry plates, the sheet suits a library, a study or a hallway.
Condition: Light age toning, a little darker toward the edges; occasional small spots in the margins; light handling wear to the corners.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
