GILLOT, Claude, et Antoine Houdart de LA MOTTE

[Les Fables]. Collection of 69 engravings by Claude GILLOT [Paris], [1719] SUPERB AND VERY RARE SET OF ENGRAVINGS BY CLAUDE GILLOT, ANTOINE WATTEAU'S MASTER, FOR THE FABLES DE LA MOTTE: THE FIRST GREAT ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE 18th CENTURY AND A FRIENDLY ANCHOR OF THE PAINTER'S BOOK. A COPY OF THE DUKE CHRISTIAN-LOUIS DE MECKLEMBOURG-SCHWERIN, ONE OF JEAN-BAPTISTE OUDRY'S GREAT PATRONS: THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS CONSECRATED BY THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF FONTAINEBLEAU IN 2004. FORMER PROVENANCES: GEORGES HEILBRUN, OTTO SCHÄFER AND PIERRE BERÈS In-12 oblong (120 x 168 mm) ILLUSTRATION: 69 engravings by Claude Gillot printed before the reduction of the margins, including four in two states with the pure etching preserved, most of them drawn and engraved by Gillot, some before the signature, one plate drawn by Gillot and engraved by Tardieu. That is to say 65 of the 68 plates present in the in-4 edition, but only these 65 plates were printed in the large format of the suite (Le Pélican et l'Araignée, La Victime, and Le Cheval et le lion "never having been placed" in this suite, B. Populus, note attached). The crayfish philosopher, present in this suite (pl. 59), was not printed in the quarto edition BINDING OF THE PERIOD. granite calf, arms in the center of the boards and arms in the corners, red morocco title-piece with mention in gilt letters : "Estampes de Gillot", gilt edges PROVENANCE: Christian-Louis II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1683-1756; arms and coat of arms, with library mark in brown ink) -- Bernard Populus, author of the Catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé de Gillot (1930), with his handwritten collation attached (3 pp.) -- Georges Heilbrun (cat. 1969, no. 31) -- Otto Schäfer (small ink stamp at the end of the volume, Sotheby's, London, 27 June 1995, no. 123) -- Pierre Berès (Paris, 13 December 2006, no. 544) Claude Gillot was Watteau's master. Mariette called these engravings "masterpieces in their genre". The Count of Caylus wrote in his Vie d'Antoine Watteau: "Gillot will be forever famous in etching by the intelligence and the pleasure with which he represented most of the Fables of La Motte". The suite with all margins of the plates of Claude Gillot is of a great rarity. It was bound for the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin who was passionate about hunting and animal painting. His role as a great patron of the painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry, who painted his portrait, was celebrated by the exhibition in Fontainebleau. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Oudry's Animals: Collection of the Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin: Exhibition, Musée national du château de Fontainebleau; Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, Paris, 2003 -- Cohen 594: "the vignettes are pretty and witty" -- B. Populus, cat. Gillot, 1933, p. 39 and pp. 100-116 -- Inventory of the Fonds français XVIIIe, X, p. 246, et sq. H. Furstenberg, Das Französische Buch im 18 Jh, p. 73 -- É. Dacier, "Le premier livre illustré du XVIIIe siècle" in Trésors des bibliothèques de France, 1927, II, pp. 1-14 : "l'ouvrage occupe dans l'histoire du livre une place exceptionnelle... il mérite d'être considéré comme un trésor"