Entertainment at a Royal Banquet, Chronicles of Saint Denis, 1849

A royal feast in full progress: the king and his guests seated at a long table under a hanging of blue and gold, servants crossing in front of them, and in the foreground a ship on wheels being hauled across the hall as part of the entertainment, with armed men climbing its sides. A border of ivy spraywork in gold and green runs down the margin. The sheet is lettered as fourteenth century French work, an interlude during the meal, from the manuscript of the Chronicles of Saint Denis numbered 8395 in the Bibliotheque nationale de Paris.

Paul Lacroix, the bibliophile who wrote under the name Le Bibliophile Jacob, and the artist Ferdinand Sere produced Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance in Paris between 1848 and 1851. The present sheet is from Tome Second of 1849. The volume is remembered for the quality of its chromolithography, much of it printed by Lemercier of the rue de Seine, and for the care with which its draughtsmen copied originals that in several cases have since been damaged or lost.

This is the most informative sheet in the volume about how medieval people actually ate and were entertained, and it is the plate to hang in a dining room. The wheeled ship is a genuine entremets, a piece of banquet theater staged between courses, and it never fails to start a conversation. The composition is busy but legible, with plenty of incident at close range.

Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the right edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the top left corner.

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