VULSON DE LA COLOMBIÈRE.

A deluxe, beautifully illustrated ms heraldic manual, produced in France c.1660, based on the Science heroïque (1644) of Marcus Vulson de La Colombière (d.1658). To him is attributed the invention of the hatching system of tinctures, as well as the rediscovery and adaptation of the image of chivalry which would greatly influence C19 medievalism. Selections from Science hero√Øque - with slight variations probably dictated by the patron s taste - were crafted into this delightful reference book. Heraldry is the genre whereby the attraction and fetish of the manuscript medium, and of hand-colouring, persisted longest into the age of print. The manual tackles the traditional heraldic matter, from the origins to the shields, the use of colours, quartering, impalement, patterns, emblems, charges, crests, crowns, and the rich vocabulary used to describe them. These are accompanied, mostly on facing pages, by hundreds of numbered shields illustrating specific examples. The sophistication and liveliness of the naturalistic devices (e.g., lions, goats, cockerels, wheels, fish bones, cats, dogs, devils, eagles, owls, bats, spiders, etc.) on numerous shields suggest the work of a skilled draftsman able to reproduce hundreds of printed illustrations faultlessly. Towards the end are the best drawings. These include 4 full-figure likenesses found on ancient monuments, explaining funeral heraldic symbolism (for princes, those who died in battle on the winning or the losing side, and those who died in prison), and two large equestrian portraits of Aymon de Salvaing (in 1505) and the Duc de Bourbon illustrating the medieval use of the lambrequin , a piece of cloth hanging from knights helmets, rendered in heraldic terms as mantling . The last few pages are devoted to French royal arms, and their sundry variations, with a dozen coats of arms sketched in pencil and left blank, as in the printed manual. A very attractive ms.