HERALDIQUES. MAROLLES A treatise on the art of... Lot 17

[HERALDIQUES]. [MAROLLES] A treatise on the art of heraldry by Monsieur de Marolles In French (with additions and notes in German, Italian, Latin), decorated and illuminated manuscript on paper France, around 1680-1700 Small in-4°, 185 ff, preceded by a flyleaf and 4 folding watercolor paintings on paper (I. The Coat of Arms ; II. Quarters of the shield ; III. Less honorable pieces. Some pieces. Flags; IV. Brisures pour les Enfans et leurs descendans), interleaved manuscript with blank leaves for notes and additions, manuscript partly unfinished or at least spaces left blank for unfinished illustrations, cursive handwriting (pale ink in places), several other hands offer notes or marginal corrections or annotations (in French and German), corrections in the text, numerous shields and coats of arms in-text and on leaves placed opposite the text, 4 engraved plates at the end of the volume, last leaf with an inscription : "Catalogue des villes de France ou l'on bat monoye... " (fol. 185). Bound in full soft ivory vellum with gilt decoration, smooth spine with gilt fleurons and fillets, gilt lettering "Marolles Art héraldique", framed with double gilt fillets, gilt iron at the four inner corners, coat of arms (unidentified) of an ecclesiastic pushed in the center of the boards (a bishop rather than a cardinal because the coat of arms of a cardinal contains 15 tassels on three rows; the coat of arms of a bishop has six tassels on three rows), traces of attachments (lacunar), red edges. Size of the leaves : 155 x 200 mm Size of the binding : 170 x 208 mm. Interesting treatise of heraldry offering a history of the coat of arms and heraldic rules and attributes. The author refers to the treatise of Baron (Jules), l'art héraldique..., Paris, 1672, thus offering a terminus post quem for the writing of the present treatise by "Marolles". The author includes at the end of the manuscript lexicons entitled: "Terms of the heraldic art which are not explained in the book of Mons. Baron"; "Other terms of the attributes of the blazon which are not explained in the traitté of Mons. Baron". Moreover, this manuscript was clearly read, used and corrected by a Germanic annotator, with several corrections and comments written in German. We have consulted Saffroy, who notes several works attributed to "M. de Marolles" (Michel de Marolles) but no work relating to "the art of heraldry" or assimilated to a generalist Treatise on Heraldry. Michel de Marolles (1600-1681) was a French clergyman, art collector, translator, essayist, memoirist, genealogist and historian. Abbot of Beaugerais at the age of ten, abbot of Villeloin from 1626 to 1674, he was until 1645 in the service of the house of Nevers, of which he became the archivist and historian. He is also known (and probably mainly) for having built up a collection of some 200,000 prints, a large part of which was purchased in 1667 by Colbert for Louis XIV, an acquisition considered to be the birth certificate of the current Cabinet des estampes of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.