About this sheet
This is an original antique chromolithograph, printed in color with gold and silver, lettered "PIÈCES HÉRALDIQUES DE PREMIER ORDRE ou honorables." Twelve labeled shields in four rows of three show the principal ordinaries: a silver chief on blue, a gold pale on red, a blue fess on silver, a gold bend on black, a silver bend sinister on blue, a red cross on gold, a silver saltire on black, a gold chevron on red, a silver bordure round a blue field, a silver canton on blue, a small blue inescutcheon on gold, and a red field with a silver base.
The running head reads "SCIENCE HÉRALDIQUE. PL. III." The shields are labeled "1. Le Chef, 2. Le Pal, 3. La Fasce, 4. La Bande, 5. La Barre, 6. La Croix, 7. Le Sautoir, 8. Le Chevron, 9. La Bordure, 10. Le Franc quartier, 11. L'Ecusson en cœur, 12. La Champagne" (chief, pale, fess, bend, bend sinister, cross, saltire, chevron, bordure, canton, inescutcheon, base). The credits are "F. Séré del. et lith." and "Chromolith. Lemercier"; the caption, translated, reads "Heraldic pieces of the first order, or honorable", and is followed by "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.
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.
