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Details
[PHILIBERT PLASSARD?], Secreti maraviglosi, in Italian, illuminated manuscript on paper [Lyons or Paris] after 1599
A wonderfully eclectic decorated recipe book made for presentation to Henri IV, King of Navarre or his wife Marie de' Medici and including, among other things, remedies for gonorrhoea, haemorrhoids, coughs, chickenpox, scabies, to strengthen the back to improve coitus, for swollen testicles, against cancer, and the virtues and uses of wine, including instructions for making wines that improve memory, cure fistula, and give women a clear and beautiful complexion.
280 x 210mm. 129 leaves, apparently complete but collation not practicable, all but the first 6 leaves foliated in red, skipping '38' without loss of text, typically 24 lines of text, written space: 240 x 170mm, densely decorated throughout with Renaissance motifs, angels and courtiers blowing horns, pointing hands, a monkey eating an apple, a physician examining a specimen-bottle, a pomegranate, suns, crescent moons, vases, flowers, birds, and a ram (some thumbing and minor wear and stains). Contemporary Parisian binding gilt with the arms and emblems of King Henri IV, each cover with an outer frame of scrolling foliage and flowers with a crowned fleur-de-lis at top and bottom, in the centre of the main inner panel are the arms of France and Navarre, each crowned, above a crowned initial 'H', within a collar of the Order of St Michel, also crowned, amidst a semé of over 500 fleurs-de-lis, with foliage and cherubim corner ornaments, the flat spine with flowers and a semé of fleurs-de-lis, the edges of the leaves gauffered, gilt and partially painted, traces of two ties (the first gathering projecting somewhat, some wear to edges, corners, and joints, some with expert minor repairs including the back lower outer corner, some scuffing and blemishes to the decorated areas). Cloth box with gilt morocco spine.
Provenance:
(1) Made probably for presentation to Henri IV, King of Navarre (1572-1610) and of France (1589-1610) and/or his wife Marie de' Medici (1575-1642), with Henri's arms and crowned initial 'H' on the binding, and numerous emblems within. The front pastedown has Henri IV's arms; the back pastedown has the crowned arms of his second wife, Marie de' Medici, whom he married in 1600, surrounded by a knotted rope, the cordelière. The fact that the text is in Italian, and the list of names of the sources on f.i verso includes 'Claudio Inglese medico de la Regina', perhaps suggests that the book was intended primarily as a gift to Marie. The text was presumably written by an Italian, possibly even in Italy, but it was doubtless illuminated by Plassard in his home-town Lyons, or in Paris where he had it bound, presumably for presentation. Little is known about Philibert Plassard, who signed the last page, except that he was named 'maître de métier' of the painters of Lyons in 1609 (M. Audin and E. Vial, Dictionnaire des artistes et ouvriers de l'art du Lyonnais, 2 vols, Paris, 1918-19, p.120, and N. Rondot, Les peintres de Lyon du XIVe au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1888, p.145).
The binding has been variously dated in the first decade of the seventeenth century. In their 1897 description (see below), Quaritch stated that it was bound in or very shortly after 1610 because the arms of Marie de' Medici are surrounded by the cordelière, which used to be thought to indicate a widow, and therefore could not be dated before Henri's death in 1610. In 1968, the Bodleian cataloguers suggested a date of c.1605; the 1988 Astor catalogue proposed a date of c.1600.
(2) The manuscript was described in 'L'Intermédiaire des chercheurs et curieux', Notes and Queries français, 24 (10 October 1891), col.765 in a request for information about Plassard, signed by 'L.B.', but he appears to have received no response.
(3) Bernard Quaritch, Catalogue 166 (January 1897), p.104 no 503, priced £42; presumably bought from Quaritch by another dealer whose typescript description is loosely inserted (formerly stuck to f.i), priced £63.
(4) William Waldorf Astor (1848-1919), and by descent; placed on deposit with the other Astor manuscripts at the Bodleian Library in 1966; withdrawn and sold at Sotheby's, 21 June 1988, lot 67.
(5) Arcana collection.
Content: The prefatory material consists of a decorated title-page: 'Secreti eccelentissimi esperimentati da molti huomini del mundo nel quale si contiene il modo di fare olii diversi ceroti, unguenti, untioni, elettuari, pillole, et altre sorte de medicammenti', followed by a list of the 'Nomi de gli indostrioso et virtuosi huomini de molte parte del mundo che anno ritrovato esperimentato questi benedeti secreti che li loro nome anno ribommato et risonnano per tutto l'universo per le gran prove esperienze che an fatto per la virtu che la donato iddio', beginning with 'Ridolfo Tudescho medico de lo Imperatore' and ending with 'Jacomo Francese medico del Re', and a table of contents with folio references, ending with a tally of the number of recipes in the book: 'Soma di tute le ricette: 335'.
The main text is headed by a similar title: 'Secreti maraviglosi: Racolti da molti huomini del mondo, nel quale si contiene il modo di fare diversi olii [...]', and is divided into several sections, including recipes for making: oils and unguents (f.1), pills (f.15v), remedies for a variety of ailments and conditions including nose-bleeds, gonorrhoea, red eyes, menstrual conditions, to aid sleep, for haemorrhoids, coughs, chickenpox, scrofula, rashes, headaches, stomach-aches, hip pain, scabies, to strengthen the back to improve coitus, tooth-aches, to increase milk-production in women, for swollen testicles, against cancer, and rabies (f.21v), the virtues and uses of wine, including instructions for making wines that improve memory, cure fistula, and give women a clear and beautiful complexion (f.63), numerous other remedies for a similarly wide range of conditions, including urinary problems, many against the plague (f.79), several recipes for 'l'olio filosophorum' (f.111) and 'l'olio del sole' (f.113), all ending with a full-page decorated colophon: 'Philibert Plassard, Lyonnois, Il fine' (f.124v).
Decoration: Much of the decoration appears to be for purely decorative effect, but in many cases there is a direct connection with the preparation or use of the adjacent recipes, for example: a man using a large pestle and mortar (f.21v), a specimen-bottle and cooking-pot on a fire (f.22v), sleeping figures next to recipes to aid sleep (f.27v), a hand in a fire next to a recipe for cure for scalding by water or burning fire (f.39v), a hand covered in callouses next to a remedy for them (f.48), a fore-arm being bled with a tourniquet above the elbow (f.57), a bandaged leg (f.60v), men drinking wine (f.63), a flask (f.63v), a wine-jug (f.68), distilling equipment (ff.71v, 74), an Augustinian friar next to a remedy he used to cure a woman who had been vomiting for 2½ years (f.80v), eyes (f.108), and hands being scalded (f.119v).
A wonderfully eclectic decorated recipe book made for presentation to Henri IV, King of Navarre or his wife Marie de' Medici and including, among other things, remedies for gonorrhoea, haemorrhoids, coughs, chickenpox, scabies, to strengthen the back to improve coitus, for swollen testicles, against cancer, and the virtues and uses of wine, including instructions for making wines that improve memory, cure fistula, and give women a clear and beautiful complexion.
280 x 210mm. 129 leaves, apparently complete but collation not practicable, all but the first 6 leaves foliated in red, skipping '38' without loss of text, typically 24 lines of text, written space: 240 x 170mm, densely decorated throughout with Renaissance motifs, angels and courtiers blowing horns, pointing hands, a monkey eating an apple, a physician examining a specimen-bottle, a pomegranate, suns, crescent moons, vases, flowers, birds, and a ram (some thumbing and minor wear and stains). Contemporary Parisian binding gilt with the arms and emblems of King Henri IV, each cover with an outer frame of scrolling foliage and flowers with a crowned fleur-de-lis at top and bottom, in the centre of the main inner panel are the arms of France and Navarre, each crowned, above a crowned initial 'H', within a collar of the Order of St Michel, also crowned, amidst a semé of over 500 fleurs-de-lis, with foliage and cherubim corner ornaments, the flat spine with flowers and a semé of fleurs-de-lis, the edges of the leaves gauffered, gilt and partially painted, traces of two ties (the first gathering projecting somewhat, some wear to edges, corners, and joints, some with expert minor repairs including the back lower outer corner, some scuffing and blemishes to the decorated areas). Cloth box with gilt morocco spine.
Provenance:
(1) Made probably for presentation to Henri IV, King of Navarre (1572-1610) and of France (1589-1610) and/or his wife Marie de' Medici (1575-1642), with Henri's arms and crowned initial 'H' on the binding, and numerous emblems within. The front pastedown has Henri IV's arms; the back pastedown has the crowned arms of his second wife, Marie de' Medici, whom he married in 1600, surrounded by a knotted rope, the cordelière. The fact that the text is in Italian, and the list of names of the sources on f.i verso includes 'Claudio Inglese medico de la Regina', perhaps suggests that the book was intended primarily as a gift to Marie. The text was presumably written by an Italian, possibly even in Italy, but it was doubtless illuminated by Plassard in his home-town Lyons, or in Paris where he had it bound, presumably for presentation. Little is known about Philibert Plassard, who signed the last page, except that he was named 'maître de métier' of the painters of Lyons in 1609 (M. Audin and E. Vial, Dictionnaire des artistes et ouvriers de l'art du Lyonnais, 2 vols, Paris, 1918-19, p.120, and N. Rondot, Les peintres de Lyon du XIVe au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1888, p.145).
The binding has been variously dated in the first decade of the seventeenth century. In their 1897 description (see below), Quaritch stated that it was bound in or very shortly after 1610 because the arms of Marie de' Medici are surrounded by the cordelière, which used to be thought to indicate a widow, and therefore could not be dated before Henri's death in 1610. In 1968, the Bodleian cataloguers suggested a date of c.1605; the 1988 Astor catalogue proposed a date of c.1600.
(2) The manuscript was described in 'L'Intermédiaire des chercheurs et curieux', Notes and Queries français, 24 (10 October 1891), col.765 in a request for information about Plassard, signed by 'L.B.', but he appears to have received no response.
(3) Bernard Quaritch, Catalogue 166 (January 1897), p.104 no 503, priced £42; presumably bought from Quaritch by another dealer whose typescript description is loosely inserted (formerly stuck to f.i), priced £63.
(4) William Waldorf Astor (1848-1919), and by descent; placed on deposit with the other Astor manuscripts at the Bodleian Library in 1966; withdrawn and sold at Sotheby's, 21 June 1988, lot 67.
(5) Arcana collection.
Content: The prefatory material consists of a decorated title-page: 'Secreti eccelentissimi esperimentati da molti huomini del mundo nel quale si contiene il modo di fare olii diversi ceroti, unguenti, untioni, elettuari, pillole, et altre sorte de medicammenti', followed by a list of the 'Nomi de gli indostrioso et virtuosi huomini de molte parte del mundo che anno ritrovato esperimentato questi benedeti secreti che li loro nome anno ribommato et risonnano per tutto l'universo per le gran prove esperienze che an fatto per la virtu che la donato iddio', beginning with 'Ridolfo Tudescho medico de lo Imperatore' and ending with 'Jacomo Francese medico del Re', and a table of contents with folio references, ending with a tally of the number of recipes in the book: 'Soma di tute le ricette: 335'.
The main text is headed by a similar title: 'Secreti maraviglosi: Racolti da molti huomini del mondo, nel quale si contiene il modo di fare diversi olii [...]', and is divided into several sections, including recipes for making: oils and unguents (f.1), pills (f.15v), remedies for a variety of ailments and conditions including nose-bleeds, gonorrhoea, red eyes, menstrual conditions, to aid sleep, for haemorrhoids, coughs, chickenpox, scrofula, rashes, headaches, stomach-aches, hip pain, scabies, to strengthen the back to improve coitus, tooth-aches, to increase milk-production in women, for swollen testicles, against cancer, and rabies (f.21v), the virtues and uses of wine, including instructions for making wines that improve memory, cure fistula, and give women a clear and beautiful complexion (f.63), numerous other remedies for a similarly wide range of conditions, including urinary problems, many against the plague (f.79), several recipes for 'l'olio filosophorum' (f.111) and 'l'olio del sole' (f.113), all ending with a full-page decorated colophon: 'Philibert Plassard, Lyonnois, Il fine' (f.124v).
Decoration: Much of the decoration appears to be for purely decorative effect, but in many cases there is a direct connection with the preparation or use of the adjacent recipes, for example: a man using a large pestle and mortar (f.21v), a specimen-bottle and cooking-pot on a fire (f.22v), sleeping figures next to recipes to aid sleep (f.27v), a hand in a fire next to a recipe for cure for scalding by water or burning fire (f.39v), a hand covered in callouses next to a remedy for them (f.48), a fore-arm being bled with a tourniquet above the elbow (f.57), a bandaged leg (f.60v), men drinking wine (f.63), a flask (f.63v), a wine-jug (f.68), distilling equipment (ff.71v, 74), an Augustinian friar next to a remedy he used to cure a woman who had been vomiting for 2½ years (f.80v), eyes (f.108), and hands being scalded (f.119v).
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