L'Histoire naturelle éclaircie dans une de ses parties principales, la Conchyliologie, qui traite des coquillages de mer, de rivière et de terre

Quentin Pierre Chedel|François Boucher|Antoine Joseph Dézallier d'Argenville

1757 · Two volumes in one, quarto; engraved frontispiece and 40 engraved plates with contemporary watercolor, sections with engraved headpieces, text ruled in red throughout · Drawings and Prints

L'Histoire naturelle éclaircie dans une de ses parties principales, la Conchyliologie, qui traite des coquillages de mer, de rivière et de terre — Quentin Pierre Chedel|François Boucher|Antoine Joseph Dézallier d'Argenville

Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville’s treatise on shells was extremely popular in eighteenth-century France when collecting and scientific inquiry were closely linked. Many art collectors had shell collections as well, including François Boucher, who designed the frontispiece and Dezallier d’Argenville, who wrote and published the book. The remainder of the plates may well have been designed by Dezallier d’Argenville himself whose collection was the basis for the plates. He was a connoisseur and artist, garden designer, and naturalist, and had studied engraving under Bernard Picart, painting with Roger de Piles, and architecture with Alexandre Le Blond. This copy of the 1757 edition features delicately hand-colored plates.

Artist: Quentin Pierre Chedel|François Boucher|Antoine Joseph Dézallier d'Argenville
Date: 1757
Medium: Two volumes in one, quarto; engraved frontispiece and 40 engraved plates with contemporary watercolor, sections with engraved headpieces, text ruled in red throughout
Department: Drawings and Prints
Credit line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2023