Jean Lamour: serrurier du roi Stanislas, à Nancy

Metalwork. Cournault (Charles)  With 24 line-engravings J.Rouam, Paris,   [1886] First Edition   Large 8vo Original crimson cloth, decorated and lettered gilt, bevelled edges, all edges gilt  Preliminary and final leaves a trifle spotted; still a very nice copy  Jean Lamour (1698-1771) was the son of a Master of Metalwork in Nancy. He learned his craft in Metz and spent his journeyman's time in Paris to further his skills. His rise to fame began in 1737 when he became court metalwork master to the new ruler, the Polish Prince Stanislas Leszcuzynski.Lamour was famed for his construction of two fountains facing the City Hall in Nancy. One fountain was dedicated to Poseidon, the other to Aphrodite: both were surrounded by figures of minor deities and dolphins and a profusion of grillwork and repoussé. Each of the fountains was 70 feet wide and over 30 feet high. The escutcheons in the centre originally bore the Bourbon Lily, the arms of the French kings. Lamour's work was admired not only for its magnitude and technical mastery but, above all, because it represented the full maturity of the Rococo epoch. 

Price: £100