[CAYLUS, duc de]. - Lot 84

[CAYLUS, duc de]. [Catalogue d'Antiquités de M. le Duc de Caylus]. [Paris], [1772 ?] THE VERY RARE TOPOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE CABINET D'ANTIQUITÉS DE CAYLUS: ONE OF THE ATTACHING SPIRITS OF THE FRENCH 18th CENTURY. ORIGINAL EDITION In-8 (195 x 120 mm). As expected, this volume has no title page. Wood-engraved headband COLLATION: (1)-104 pp. BINDING CIRCA 1820. Fawn calf, triple gilt fillet, long spine. PROVENANCE: comte Louis de La Forest d'Armaillé (bookplate) -- marquis de Luppé (1866-1934: bookplate) Anne-Claude-Philippe de Tubières de Lévis (1692-1765), comte then duc de Caylus after the death of Claude Abraham duc de Caylus, was one of the key figures of the 18th century: A multi-talented man of letters, playwright, novelist, keen observer of the mores of his time, storyteller, translator, he was also an erudite antiquarian, collector, patron of the arts, engraver, member of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in 1731, of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres in 1742, of the Académie de France in Rome, and an ardent defender of great painting and the taste for antiquity. Caylus, a promising officer, left the army and visited Ephesus in 1716, the first of his major collecting trips in the ancient Mediterranean. An enemy of Diderot and Marmontel, Caylus was, strictly speaking, one of the models of the universal man in the 18th century. A friend of Watteau and a member of Crozat's inner circle, for whom he engraved many plates in the famous Recueil, he became, along with Mariette, one of the first art historians. This is not an auction catalog, but rather what the 18th century called a Description of this famous collection of antiques, presented here in topographical order. The salon is described first, with the most voluminous sculptures; then come the objects, described cabinet by cabinet, shelf by shelf, cord by cord (where rings and bracelets were stacked). The Duc de Caylus also had a Natural History Cabinet, which was the subject of a similar description published by Veuve Simon in 1772. "The Comte de Caylus was no ordinary collector. He didn't aim for complete sets, or rarities, or the pleasure of owning. He bought what was particular, what suggested questions or experiences. As a result, his cabinet was more like a hothouse for a wide variety of objects. Once he'd finished his studies, he could easily do without them. During his lifetime, he twice donated large collections of antiques to the King's Cabinet des Médailles, and bequeathed to it, in his will, all his remaining antiques, a wish that was not carried out until after the death of his heir, in 1783. His beautiful library went to the Bibliothèque du Roi and the Cabinet des Estampes. The rest was inventoried by the expert Pierre Remy (the report published in Nouvelles Archives de l'art français 2e série V p. 368) and put up for sale." (Lugt Foundation website). It should be noted that the Count's heir, the 3rd Duc de Caylus, had a number of sales made of objects that the collector had not already donated during his lifetime: in 1772 (Histoire naturelle et antiquités, 3rd part), on April 19, 1773 (paintings, miniatures, objets d'art), and on June 3, 1773 (minerals). In addition to these sales, there was also the sale of November 18, 1765 (Paris, expert P. Remy), whose catalog is very rare. This copy could be the one sold by the Marquis de Ch. (Paris, Silvestre, April 2, 1827, no. 2486 "v. f. fil."). BIBLIOGRAPHY : missing from the Getty Library -- no copy listed by Vialibri in American libraries -- one copy at INHA / coll. J. Doucet