About this sheet
This is an original antique chromolithograph, printed in color with gold and silver, lettered "DES CROIX." Twelve labeled shields of crosses are set in four rows of three: a plain red cross on silver, a blue cross pattée on silver, a silver cross with a pointed foot on red, a green couped cross on silver, a red cross anchored on silver and a gold tau cross on blue. Below are a gold cross potent on blue, a gold cross fleury on red, a green cross crosslet on silver, a gold engrailed cross on red, a silver indented cross on blue and a blue voided cross with knobbed points on gold.
The running head reads "SCIENCE HÉRALDIQUE, PL. VIII." The labels are "1. Croix simple, 2. Croix pattée, 3. Croix au pied fiché, 4. Croix alésée, 5. Croix ancrée, 6. Croix de potence, 7. Croix potencée, 8. Croix florencée, 9. Croix recroisetée, 10. Croix engrelée, 11. Croix dentelée, 12. Croix vidée" (plain, pattée, fitchy at the foot, couped, anchored, tau, potent, fleury, crosslet, engrailed, indented, voided). The credits read "F. Séré, del et Lith" and "Chromolith. Lemercier", and the caption "DES CROIX." means "Of crosses".
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.
