Christy, E.
l'Ornamentation usuelle.
Paris, A. Calavas, ca. 1895. Folio (37.0 x 28.0 cm). Engraved title page, 30 photogravure plates. Original embossed, red cloth portfolio with gilt title on the front (top) board.
A rare, large suite of plates by the French painter and designer, Eugène Christy. The use of photogravure is interesting. Next to nothing is known about the artist, except that he was active in Paris, between ca. 1870 and 1900. The work is mentioned in an auction catalogue of Bangs (in New York City), dated 25-28 March 1896. Another work by Christy, Motifs de Décoration Usuelle... dates from 1882, but stylistically the present work must be later. Blue pencil annotation in plate margins, otherwise clean. A very good copy. Neither in Evers, Ornamentale Vorlagenwerke, nor in Schneider-Henn, Ornament und Dekoration, who only report its similar-titled precursor. We found no auction records.