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Description
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[MANUSCRIPT-EROTICA] Contes de La Fontaine dessine et invente par dom Jason Xavedra Jacobin (title taken from first drawing). N.p, n.d., but likely circa 1770. Full red morocco extravagantly gilt, signed by Chambolle-Duru on the front dentelle, dated 1864, all edges rough gilt. 72 explicit erotic drawings on paper rendered in ink wash, watercolor and gouache, each approximately 14 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches (26 x 36.5 cm), inlaid at the time of binding to 24 1/4 x 18 inches (62 x 46 cm) with thick blue paper stock (calligraphically titled on the mount, which also bears borders in ink, gold and wash); the leaves with drawings interleaved with guard sheets. A number of sheets are signed by the artist, I. Xavery (likely Jacob Xavery, Dutch, 1736 who moved to Paris from Amsterdam in 1768). A few are titled in a hand of the period and one bears a date, decipherable only with difficulty, of 17(6?)7. Some wear and soiling to the binding, the drawings with occasional minor defects but generally fine, though with evidence on the versos of having been laid down in an earlier album (one drawing with traces of another on the verso). An exceptional album with a series of very fine libertine drawings to illustrate La Fontaine's Contes, perhaps intended for publication, given the fact that the first drawing resembles a formal title page. However, we cannot locate any published work that approximates this; if published, it would likely have been swiftly suppressed, and the series of drawings may equally well have been produced either for a client, or the artist's own amusement. The Contes, which commenced publication on 1650, were bawdy even for the age. They contained a strong strain of anticlericism that was popular with 18th century readers. Misbehaving nuns and priests are a recurring theme in the present suite, their peccadillos graphically depicted. Numerous images available at doylenewyork.com
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