Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look; the description says what is included.
Royal Guards of France, Set of Three Antique Military Prints, circa 1882
£225
$300 · €270
Original print, not a reproduction.
Ships worldwide from the Netherlands, flat or rolled, insured and tracked. 14-day returns.
- Date
- circa 1882
- Sheet size
- 11.2 × 7.9 in (28.5 × 20 cm)
- Technique
- Woodcut
- Coloring
- Original hand color
- Condition
- Good. Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the edges of all three sheets. Scattered foxing in the margins of all three sheets. Slight wear at the corners of all three sheets.
- Wardrobe
- Menswear
- Era
- 1870 to 1900, Bustle
- Stock no.
- BG-13382-56
What the condition grades mean
- Excellent
- Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
- Very good
- Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
- Good
- Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
- Fair
- Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
This is a set of three original antique hand-colored wood engravings, sold together as one lot, from Augustin Challamel's La France et les Francais a travers les siecles, Paris, circa 1882. The sheets are, in order: Guard of the Provostry and Officer of the Guards; Guard of the Body of Francois Premier; Gendarme of 1593 and Captain of the Enfants d'Honneur. A guard of the provostry and an officer of the guards of the years 1574 to 1589, one in a slashed and padded doublet with a halberd, the other in a plumed hat and short cloak with a rapier, both in the livery colors of the household. A guard of the body of Francois the First in a parti colored tunic and hose with a plumed bonnet, carrying a halberd, taken from a contemporary miniature in the Gaignieres collection. A gendarme of 1593 in three quarter armor with a lance, beside the captain of the first company of the enfants d'honneur of 1596 in a sash and plumed helmet, both dated on the sheet.
This sheet was issued at Paris about 1882 by F. Roy, editeur, in Augustin Challamel's history of France and the French through the centuries, a work crowned by the Academie francaise. Challamel was also the author of a history of fashion in France, and the costume plates are the part of the book he cared about most. They are wood engravings, and the color has been applied by hand over the printed line, which is why the washes sit slightly across the engraved outline in places. This is a wood engraving finished by hand in watercolor. The coloring is bold rather than subtle, which suits the flat decorative drawing, and the strong yellows, reds and blues of the suite are what make these sheets work so well in a group on a wall rather than only as reference illustrations.
The household guards of the last Valois were the king's own troops and the only soldiers admitted to the palace, and this plate is the clearest image in the volume of the uniform they wore to do it. The guard's parti colored livery is the direct ancestor of the uniforms still worn by papal and ceremonial guards, and a sixteenth century miniature source makes this a reliable record of it. They are three original sheets sold together, and the set is never split. A matched group like this is easier to place than a single sheet, because it fills a wall on its own, and the common ground and plate size mean the frames can be identical.
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the edges of all three sheets. Scattered foxing in the margins of all three sheets. Slight wear at the corners of all three sheets.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.
