Carved Bed after Designs by Vriese, Antique Print, 1851

This is an original antique chromolithograph, printed in colors, from Le Moyen Âge et la Renaissance, lettered "Face latérale et détails du LIT exécuté d'après les dessins de Vrièse." At the left the side of a large carved bed is shown in elevation, printed in golden brown with cream highlights: a projecting cornice on a carved post with a caryatid, a scrolled cresting with small figures, an open arcade of turned colonnettes, a frieze of two figure scenes in relief and, below, three square panels with lion masks in strapwork. At the right three panel details are drawn at a larger scale, each a square of scrolling ornament round a central lion mask inside a molded frame with bosses, the lowest cut off by the edge of the image.

The running heads read "LE MOYEN-ÂGE ET LA RENAISSANCE." and "AMEUBLEMENT CIVIL, Pl. XVI bis". Beneath the image are the credits "Rivaud del.", "Chromolith. Lemercier." and "Kellerhoven lith." The caption translates as: Side elevation and details of the bed made after the designs of Vriese. The section title, civil furnishing, covers domestic furniture as distinct from church furnishings.

Le Moyen Âge et la Renaissance was published in Paris in five volumes between 1848 and 1851. Paul Lacroix, who also wrote as the Bibliophile Jacob, edited the text, and Ferdinand Séré directed the illustrations, which is what the line "F. Séré direxit" on the plates records. The work surveys the customs, trades, sciences, arts and literature of Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and its plates reproduce furniture, metalwork, ceramics, manuscripts and other objects from public and private collections of the time. The plates are chromolithographs, printed in color from a series of stones rather than colored by hand. This plate comes from the fourth volume, issued in 1851.

The pairing of the full elevation with the enlarged panels makes the sheet a good choice for a study or a library wall.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.